Not a secret anymore
by AndyDona.chan
Summary: Sheldon thought of what he just heard, he had never heard of a similar case in his life. It explained of course why his muggle repellent hadn't worked, and why she was always able to sneak into his room. Shenny. HP's universo with a little mixture of "The magicians". Also at AO3 with it's past title "A huge secret to keep".
1. Chapter 1

**I honestly don't know where this came from. I was happy working on "CLUES" and the translation, when I looked at the bookshelf trying to choose a last name for a character, and remembered today was going to start airing the new season of the BBT, something between looking at my Harry Potter books and that crashed with "The magicians" book (by Lev Grossman, if you haven't you should read it) and boom: this fic. **

**I may add one or two more chapters, not really sure when (or how many more chapters) since I'm currently working on Sherlock's story, but still I would like to know if you like it. Please R&R.**

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><p><strong>1.-A big secret.<strong>

Sheldon Cooper was a wizard.

Ever since his parents discovered his genius mind, and after his mother took him to a certain test he knew he was special. Soon when he was about to turn eleven a few universities were looking for him to study abroad, it was a surprise for him that during that same week a few other letters arrived in one of the most weird ways he had ever seen.

He had been at his Mewmaw's house when not less that 5 owls entered the room, startled he had hurried to look for the elder woman, less surprised that what he had thought his grandmother would be, she went to the birds and took the letter that each one of them were carrying. It wasn't the first time he had saw that kind of birds arrive to his grandmother's house, and of course he knew they were carrying messages, but they had never been for him. After the birds had gone away his grandmother turned around to look at him.

-I think you have some big decisions to make Moon pie.

Sheldon had already been talking to his parents about what his future studies would take him to. His grandmother was a witch, he had know for a long while and was the only secret until then that he had ever needed to keep, for some reason she had always hidden that little peace of information from her family, or at least from his mother since the moment she knew her daughter in law was such a religious fanatic, his father had promised never to reveal the secret. His brother and sister had no magic powers, and Mewmaw told him that every time he had shown his powers she had made quick job so his parents wouldn't suspect.

And now that he had less time to choose what college to assist, he had to make also the decision of what magic school to go. Hogwarts seemed like the best choice, but it was too far from Germany for him to make the trip even via the flu network, and he was too young to attempt apparition just yet. So he settled for Durmstrang, the magic school was near the muggle College he had chosen, and that way he would be able to put his brilliant mind to work on both things. With his IQ it was hardly impossible for anybody else to do what he did.

The moment he sent his study plans to the Headmaster of Durmstrang a letter came back with a special schedule for him and a time-turner, making his days impossibly long from that moment on.

It took him four years to get his first PhD; by that moment at Durmstrang he was making early attempts at his O.W.L.S. It was lucky to get called to another college as an invited professor, giving him time to get his second PhD and finally leave Durmstrang. Those 6 years of studying at a muggle school along with the magic school had given him problems with social interactions due to his restricted schedules, but at the same time it had open the opportunity to try and unravel the mysteries of the universe using both points of view. His magic knowledge, combined with his physics studies made him the most impressive Physicist in the world.

In the magic world he had already made huge breakthroughs, but most of his findings he was still trying to translate to something muggles could comprehend, and that required time.

And when he came back to his country there were some things he had to solve before attempting to gain the respect of the muggles in the science world. So he took the exam to enter one of the only specialty magic schools in the country: Brakebills. There he improved quite a lot. His ability to make magic without speaking became better, and soon he was using his wand in less things that he had ever thought he will.

Of course while being in Brakebills he had already taken his job at Cal Tech, he had gotten himself a new time-turner after leaving Durmstrang, and that way his schedule was never disturbed.

A while later he met Leonard, and with him Howard and Raj. By then he was already recognized in both worlds as a great wizard, and one of the greatest mind of the century. The amount of secrets he was already concealing made it difficult for him to be able to keep "secrets" that were less important than those he had.

So far he had modified his personality so that no one in the muggle community would ever find out his secret; the infamous room-mate agreement had a magic clause that authorized him to delete his room-mate's memory if he ever found out, Leonard had become oblivious to that clause the moment he had signed it. His phobia to germs was something he had developed due to a sickness he had had at Durmstrang that got worse because of a combination of a muggle virus with a magic one. His dislike for birds came from a very upset owl, not a chicken. And althought his room was surrounded by many spells to keep muggles away he still made sure that no one would go in there.

In there he had his collection of cards from the Chocolate frogs, his magic chess, the gobstones and those figures from his favorite comic books that had been modified, either to move or to fly if they were ships.

With all that said it wasn't difficult to figure out why he was so surprised right now. Leonard was away, visiting his parents at New Jersey, Raj and Howard never visited him if his room mate wasn't there. But that neighbor of them… Not even placing a good muggle repellent in the door had stopped Penny to come into his apartment the only day he was allowing himself to do some magic.

He had stopped in the middle of making the tea pot fly to the coffee table while he was looking at the movies floating in front of him to find an acceptable one to watch. The silence that followed the moment Penny took in what she was seeing and Sheldon reaction was unreal. When Sheldon's brain processed what had happened, the implications and what he needed to do, he finally moved. The tea pot finished its way to the coffee table, and the movies placed themselves over Leonard's chair.

Penny was still standing by the door, her mouth and eyes wide open in surprise, he stood up, moving confidently to where she was and making her walk in the apartment and closing the door behind her.

-What the hell was that Sheldon? - said Penny finally snapping out of her shock.

-What do you think it was Penny? - Sheldon crossed his arms, frowning at Penny.- You know I never make mistakes, and I'm sure my repellent was so good that no one in this building would even come near my door. So I think you are the one who has some explaining to do. - He looked at her lifting his eyebrow in his signature inquisitive look.

When she didn't answer he started to pace in front of her, not sure if he should tell her.

-I am a wizard- he finally said- what you saw was magic, if you're a witch yourself you should tell me right now, or else I'm thinking seriously on deleting your memory, you shouldn't had seen that, I'm giving you just one chance, you cannot afford to loose your memory, you attention to anything is already weak.

-Yes, you're right- Penny's gaze dropped to the floor, and this time it was Sheldon the one to look at her in surprise. - I'm a witch too, but unlike you I was never able to attend any magic school, my parents thought it was all a joke. Some teachers even came to our house and tried to explain, but after being threatened by my father's gun they never came back. I made my own research of course, I wrote to the Headmaster, and I got to know what all this was about, but I've never learned to control my powers. You're amazing by the way.

Sheldon thought of what he just heard, he had never heard of a similar case in his life. It explained of course why his muggle repellent hadn't worked, and why she was always able to sneak into his room.

-What was the name of the school that accepted you?

-Hogwarts. But after just a few letters the Headmaster stopped answering, so I forgot about it. Until now, I never thought I was going to meet someone from the Wizard community, to be honest I never thought it would be you of all people, always talking about physics laws and logical stuff, even dismissing my believing in the horoscope, I'm fearing this is just a dream and not something actually happening.

Sheldon went to sit to his spot, thinking about what Penny had just said. He saw the steaming tea pot still over the coffee table and he took his wand from his pocket, flicked it a little and another cup appeared next to his. He then pointed at the tea pot and the warm infusion was poured in the cups. Penny looked at him in awe.

-Have some tea Penny, there's no need to letting it cool down. I'm still thinking of what you told me. For some reason I'm considering letting you go with you memory intact. But I think I might need to consult somebody.

Penny took the cup of tea and remained silent, as if by doing so somehow he would make up his mind and let her keep the memory, or maybe just wondering if the tea had some magical property.

Sheldon took his own cup, and started sipping it while looking puzzled at Penny. When he finished, he made some movements with his right hand and the movies on Leonard's chair, the tea pot and the cups disappeared, a quick glace told Penny they had got back to their place. Sheldon then stood up again and walked towards the window, this time he moved both of his hands while mumbling something that sounded like a song, and to Penny's surprise a fireplace started "growing" from the floor. With another flick of his wand fire started to crept inside.

-I think I can help you, come on. - He said taking a something from a bowl over the recently 'grown' fireplace and throwing it in the fireplace, making the fire grow and turn green.

Penny almost jumped from the couch in excitement, moving faster until she was standing next to Sheldon. He smiled at her amazed expression, and then pulled her wrist and jumped with her into the fire.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I never thought this story would be as accepted as it is, thank you very much for reading, and for reviewing, please keep doing so and maybe I'll be motivated enough this story would evolve into something with an actual plot and more chapters. I hope you enjoy it and don't hesitate to send any suggestions, commentaries, or point out any mistake, I'm not a native English speaker and I would really much appreciate your help to improve my writing.**

**Also my "Sheldonian language" is not very good, and there will be moments when he will be OOC but please understand, I don't really like to write with the dictionary under my nose, it makes the fantasy loose its touch and I would really love to be able to keep Sheldon being himself but he's difficult to translate (=P), that wont keep me for trying to improve that as well. Behold, I present you with the second chapter of this wicked story.**

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><p>2. - Apprentice.<p>

Penny shouted when the green flames enveloped her body, she was not afraid of being burnt, she had heard about the Flu network, but had never traveled by it, and the sensation made her feel suddenly lighter, as if she were free falling, but the hand holding her wrist never let go.

When they arrived they were at a place that looked very much like a government office, but the obvious magic in the air told her it wasn't any normal place, there were some people writing over huge books, people waiting in line to enter different offices and paper planes flying over their heads. She had never been to a place like this, where everybody was a witch or a wizard already, and was too amazed to make any question.

Without hesitation Sheldon started pulling her towards an office, he might have know where to go because he never stopped to ask, once they reached the place he was looking for he let go of her hand.

-Sheldon, what are we doing here? What is this place?

-Seeing that you are not an authorized witch and have no license to appear, we require a permission to travel. With no means to offend you in any way Penny but I'm going to refer to you as a muggle, and maybe my current fiancé for the time being, as it's the only way they are going to grant us the right to travel, and we need to speak to some people to allow you to get your rightful place as a witch, and since you are currently in age to do this without your parents help I think it's for the best.

-Wait, wait, wait! You are going to lie? You don't lie! You are Sheldon Cooper, Mr.'I-can´t-tell-lies'! - Sheldon just looked at her with condescension again.

-Penny, I'm a wizard, and one of the most brilliant minds in either world, I once told you that I'm not good at keeping secrets or telling lies, but I managed to hide this from you and the others. And you still think I can't tell lies or keep secrets?

Penny gaped, she had no answer for that, it was true that Sheldon had managed to keep this from her and their friends, and maybe from the whole place he worked at, but she was used to Sheldon being… well, Sheldon, the sudden revelation that he was able to do the only things he would never do under his façade made her feel as if he was a stranger, and also made her think of all the things 'this' Sheldon had hidden from them.

-Now, come on, we need to work in this quickly- he said knocking at the door once, he had to stop himself from making his signature knocking, Penny saw how he had to use his left hand to stop the right one, some things were difficult to avoid, she thought, this routine was the prove.

-Come in- said a female voice from inside the office. Sheldon opened the door, Penny entered just behind him. The office was a little room, furnished only with a bookshelf, a pair of chairs and a desk.

-Oh, hello Dr. Cooper. It's been a while since I last saw you, what can I do for you? - said the little witch behind the desk, standing up and showing them to the chairs. The witch was a chubby woman, dressed in a muggle green suit, but wearing a black tunic over her jacket, she was wearing glasses, and her red hair made her look a bit exotic.

-Hello Ally,- said Sheldon taking a sit in front of the desk and waiting for Penny to sit down next to him.- you know the only possible thing for me to be here is to ask for a permit to travel outside the country.

-Is it the usual? You've never brought anyone before. - The woman looked at Penny with a kind smile, and then flicked her wand in the air and a tray appeared floating in the air next to them. - Can I offer you something to drink?

-No thanks, this is Penny, my… fiancé- said Sheldon struggling a bit before saying the last word. - We want to start the paperwork as soon as possible, and since she's a muggle I require the special permit to take her with me.

-Congratulations Dr. Cooper, give me just a minute, it's a piece of cake, not many couples come here as a first stop when it comes to this, they always run around the offices before noticing they need a travel permit to complete the register of their partners at the Ministry in London. - said Ally standing up and looking inside some drawers for the paper they need to fill.- Good thing you're a genius, this would save you a lot of time.

Penny watched as the lady started filling the blacks on the paper, she just asked Penny her name before handing Sheldon a copy and waving him good bye. Once outside the office Penny lowered her voice and asked.

-Why do we need to go to London?

-Generally speaking if we really were to get married then we should get some more papers, wizards have always kept the community as a secret, it's part of the law, so when someone wants to marry a muggle the government makes an investigation to see if the person is capable of keeping the secret, they also search their family line to see if there's any connection with the original pure blood families, it can happen, they also ask the person to visit London's Ministry of Magic so they can make a file of the person and to explain and make the sign a paper with their rights and responsibilities, once married and in case their offspring inherit the magic. If your parents had accepted to let you go to Hogwarts then they would have need to do almost the same, its just for control purposes, and it also benefit them if they are involved in a magical accident, if many people is involved, with that file they don't get their memories erased.

-Cool- said Penny remembering some of the problems she caused when she wasn't able to control her magic as a little girl. She knew the accidental magic in her first years was tracked and dealt with, but while she grew up and more accidents happen, she found herself involved in more and more trouble, it had been in the first place why she had ended up moving to California. She shuddered at the memory of what had almost (almost!) happened with Kurt.

-But since we are not going to get married, and we were not going to get this permit otherwise, we don't need to fill any other paper and can leave right away. - Penny wasn't expecting Sheldon to put his arm around her waist… or to see the world turn to a blur in front of her, the squeezing sensation that enveloped worst than the journey in the Flu network or to land feeling sick in a street were it was already dark.-Sorry, I forgot the first time appearing with someone was not really pleasant, I should have asked for a portkey.

Penny stumbled towards the wall of the nearest house and took in the view in front of her, forgetting that very moment of the feeling of dizziness. Right at the end of the street she could see the most iconic building of the city: Elizabeth's tower (The Big Ben), the visible face of the clock illuminated and the starry sky reminded her of a Disney movie.

-Come on Penny, I ordered a pizza a while ago and I don't want to give more than three turns before heading back, it would ruin my sleeping schedule.

Sheldon had waited for her to take in the view of the city, giving her time to compose herself before signaling the red phone box in the next corner and walking towards it. The blonde was feeling overwhelmed, she had dreamed how the magic world would be, but what she had already seen was far over any fantasy she ever imagined.

Entering the Ministry of Magic was her least favorite, and she would have felt bored of walking through different offices if she hadn't know that Sheldon was used to make all this kind of "legal moves". They talked to many people there, Sheldon explaining why he had brought Penny; many of them asked her some questions before let them go to the next office.

Finally tired of answering questions and being dragged along through what felt like a thousand offices, she was sitting at the big fountain in the middle of the hall when Sheldon approached her followed by another wizard.

-This is Penny- said Sheldon introducing her to the man.- This is Alphonse, he's the one in charge of helping muggle families, and of course of managing people who like you have been neglected by their family and never made it to a magic school.

-Hello Penny, can I call you for your first name?- said the man, extending his hand to greet her, Penny nodded while shaking his hand- I know it's been a long day, and for what Dr. Cooper said you have already completed all the necessary register. Right now all I need to see is if you can perform a little spell and then I will explain how things are going to work.

Penny smiled; she was going to make some magic at last. Alphonse led them to an empty room with its walls full of portraits; next to the door was a table with at least five wands.

-Take a wand- he instructed- its just to perform a basic spell so it's not going to reject you or anything like that.- he then handed her a piece of paper and made a heavy box appear in the middle of the room with a thud.- You are going to perform the spell to make things float, its pretty easy and it wont cause you harm in case you fail to pronounce the words, it also requires certain force to be used and that's what I'm going to use to determine if you can start your self training with mail classes or if you will need a tutor to guide you.

-So, I'm going to be allowed to study magic? That's great!

-Yes, it often depends on the wizard, some can manage to do magic and start training themselves, we test them here and give the necessary level, also there's people who can't make magic because their years of not using it made them loose "the spark" as we use to call it, there are also other people that can do magic but can't control it, to that people we set a person to help.

-Great. Sheldon, can you tell me how to pronounce this, I really don't want to mess this up, no matter if my chances are minimum.

-A wise choice! - Said Sheldon walking towards her and telling her how to pronounce and make the spell. - I'll make a little demonstration, is it ok Alphonse?

-Go ahead. - said the wizard smiling.

Sheldon took his wand and made a swift movement with it, pronouncing the spell loud and clear. - Wingardium Leviosa!

The box instantly raised three feet from the floor; he then made it go down smoothly. Smiling he turned to Penny. – It's been a while since I made this spell saying the words out loud; it's quite satisfying to do it again.

Penny smiled, a bit nervous this time, she turned to the box, flicked the wand in the air and pronounced the spell… Something happened that very moment, a few 'ah' and 'wow' were emitted both by the men behind her and the people in the portraits. She saw the box floating in front of her, smiling and feeling proud because of that.

-Sheldon I did it! Look, the box is floating! - She said turning her head around, only Sheldon was not looking at her from the ground.

-Calm down Penny! - Sheldon warned looking at her terrified expression, and stopping her right in the moment she was about to squeal and throw the wand to the air. - Lower the wand slowly, until the box is on the floor again. - Said Sheldon apparently amused by what just happened, when Penny made the spell work everything in the floor of the room floated, including Alphonse and him that were suspended in the air next to the table and the remaining wands, trying to keep a standing position without loosing balance.

Penny took a deep breath and with a trembling hand lowered the box to the floor.

-Wow Penny, that was… good, really good. This means your magic performance it's still strong enough, no wonder why Hogwarts asked for you, people at the US tend to go to the schools in the continent. But you are going to need a tutor to help you, the magic training allows the wizard to control his own power and to work for him, I suppose you are always dealing with the mess in your house, having your powers like this makes it difficult not to show in that way.

-I never noti…

-She's a very messy person,- Sheldon stopped her mid sentence- she would have never know part of her mess was because of her powers, I tried to help her with that once, now I see it would have prove worthless with the time.

Penny frowned and walked towards the table to put the wand again with the others.

-And who would be my tutor? - She said trying to change the subject from her messy apartment.

-I'll check the list of voluntaries, you won't need to pay it; I'll send you an owl next week maybe.

-Hey, hold on! - said Sheldon. – I can do it, I can tutor Penny through her magic training, the last thing I need is another witch or wizard messing things around, and if it's a wizard then she'll loose no time to have intercourse with him. No, I will do it, there's no need for anybody else to disturb my peaceful life.

Penny slammed her hand against her forehead, leave it to Sheldon to say something like that even in front of a stranger in a foreign country. Alphonse had turned red, but just nodded and moved towards the table.

-That's acceptable, Dr. Cooper, I'll make the necessary paper work and you'll be able to leave right after, give me five minutes. It's not really often that we need to arrange an apprentice contract, it's more of the days when there were no magic schools, but it's still viable and the Ministry updated the law after Hogwart's Battle a few years ago. It helped to regain control over the muggle born kids when the lists got lost.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! I am really grateful to know that so many of you are reading this, thanks, really. I should have made this story for Halloween; I'm kinda feeling this would have worked better for that day. But, since it's working wonderfully already I'll just keep going. Now I want to request, formally from you all, to write a review for me telling me what kind of classes you want Penny to take. All the spells and transformations to make this story interesting think of magic situations and help me please, because I actually never intended to go this far with the story, and I need ideas to express you my appreciation with more chapters, so come on! Read, enjoy and review!**

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><p><strong>3.- Pizza and questions.<strong>

Going back to California that night was faster than going to London. The first thing Sheldon did was ask Alphonse if they could use the spare room where Penny had been tested, once there he took his pocket watch from his trousers, she noticed then that it had been modified to look like an ordinary watch, inside it was a tiny sand clock that turned when Sheldon activated the magic device, he told Penny to hold the chain attached to his belt, he then opened the watch and gave the screw three turns in the opposite direction of the arrows on a clock.

A strange whirlwind surrounded them, the images of what had happened in the room passing before their eyes in backward motion. A moment later they were alone again in the room.

-Hold on tight Penny, we're going back to California from here, hopefully this time you won't feel dizzy. - At his words Penny took hold of his left arm, her hand still holding the chain of the clock even when there was no need to keep doing so, and closed her eyes, the unfamiliar squeezing sensation enveloped them once more, this time when she felt her feet land again she opened her eyes slowly, finding herself in 4A once again. The fireplace that Sheldon had made grown in front of the window was roaring with green flames, but he just went near it and with other quick movement of his fingers it disappeared.

Penny walked towards the kitchen, where the tea pot and cups had appeared before Sheldon proclaimed he could help her, and took the cup she had used to drink tea a few hours ago, it was still warm.

-Sheldon… - she said feeling a bit stupid for having to confirm her suspicions- I didn't ask a moment ago, but… we traveled back in time in that room, didn't we? That's why the cups are still warm.

-You're right. Actually the flames you've just saw roaring in the fireplace were signaling our departure a few hours ago, but now we're back, we made excellent time if you ask me, when I travel in between hours I usually have to wait for the other 'me' to leave, or come out in a rush, good thing I always try to keep on schedule.

-How did we do that?

-With my time turner. I had one of this when I was at college, I used it to attend my classes at Durmstang and the university, and I might have spent 12 years instead of six at Germany for all the time travel I made. I modified this myself, from the outside is just a pocket watch, as it is from the inside to muggles, but now obviously for you and any other wizard is a time turner.

-Wow, that's… amazing. But what's going to happen now?

-Now- said Sheldon lifting a finger and walking towards the door – I'm going to pay for the pizza and while we eat I'll explain the generalities of our new paradigm, I'm also drafting a new agreement for you to sign with our new rights and responsibilities while I teach you. I will also include some points regarding any possible discovery from our friends, and the protective spells I will have to put in and around your apartment.

Penny was about to speak against that last statement when somebody knocked at the door, Sheldon smiled and then opened the door to receive the pizza from the deliverer outside his door. Once the door was closed and Sheldon had placed the pizza over the coffee table, Penny spoke again.

-Wait. You said you had placed some anti muggle something by the door, how is possible that the deliverer came here just like that?

Sheldon raised his eyebrows, as if he couldn't understand her question; he then sat on his spot and waited for Penny to sit next to him.

-I've been complaining with that store for years, their deliverers usually never came all the way up to the apartment to bring my pizza; I was tired of that so I "handled" the problem.

-Oh my good! You seriously bewitched them to carry the pizza all the way here.

-Hey! It's not a big deal and I have a special permission to do it; they should have done it from the beginning, and they're not "bewitched" I just placed a conditional spell in the front door, so whenever a pizza deliverer arrives, if the pizza is for me, they automatically are send up stairs, it's as if they feel the need to come upstairs, they haven't complained, me neither, two birds with one shot, they sell pizza, and I stop complaining with their manager.

-So, they don't notice they're being controlled by magic.

-No. And since the spell is mine, it doesn't interfere with my muggle repellent.

-Great!

-Now, I know you're not a woman who is very fond of school procedures, but since I'm going to be your teacher I need to think in every possible thing you might need during this process.

-What do you mean?

-Well, for starter you need a wand, and also a basic spell book, and potion materials, which we will buy in the nearest magic station.

-And, is it cheap? Or am I going to need to empty my bank account.

-Don't be silly. Muggle money is useless in those places. I'll buy it, I have enough from all the work I do for the community, and I'm sure the Ministry will give you the basic amount they always have for muggle born students. Although I don't know how this works since I wasn't expecting to get an apprentice. Don't worry Penny; I'll have you answers by tomorrow.

They ate the pizza in silence for a moment, the silence between them had never been something unbearable to Penny, but all the things that had happened that afternoon were weird enough. She still had some questions though.

-Sheldon, I know you said no one knows your secret, but, what about Leonard? Or our friends? Howard, Raj, Bernadette, Amy!

-What about them?

-Aren't you worried that they find out, about me at last? – Sheldon looked at her and the straightened himself in his spot.

-Penny, there's a special section in the magic law that says we, witches and wizards, have to make sure to keep our community a secret. I've been living with Leonard for almost a decade, and he's never been even close to find out anything. You even saw me play dumb with Howard with that children magic trick with the cards. And even if Amy that very close to me, or any of our friends ever found out, I would evaluate the level of trouble that implies, and fix it.

-What would you do to them?

-As I told you depending on the situation, I could try to convince them to keep the secret, but I could also erase their minds. Of course the government has their own way of dealing with leaks of that kind, but I don't see a reason why they should find out in any way. Now, your situation is new, but believe me, there are better ways to disguise all of this. And if you follow my instructions, as you are supposed to do anyway, then we have nothing to worry about.

Penny thought for a moment in every aspect in her life that was about to change, maybe she wasn't at all fond of following Sheldon's orders, because he had all those quirks that made her think he was a perfectionist, and his condescension was worrisome, but she wouldn't have trusted anyone else. If something he had proved himself to be very efficient.

-So, I suppose we will need to do some shopping soon. What am I suppose to do about that?

-When that moment arises I will call you Penny, also I'm afraid we need to find a good excuse for you to go to CalTech at least three times a week.

-Three…? Wha… Why would I need to go to your work?

-Because, I have an office there, a… special office- he remarked when Penny was about to protest – and I think it's the perfect place to use as a classroom for you to practice. Now, you should better be going, I need to go to bed and maybe tomorrow we will go shopping.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, here's the next chapter at least. I'm sorry this one is as well still part of the introduction of the story. I'm still debating if I should make this a story shipping Sheldon and Penny or not (though I kind of feel it's going to end at it anyway), so I chose neutral territory, since I have nothing against Leonard other than not like him being with Penny (same thing you can say for Amy, as lovely as she may be I don' like to relate her relationship with Sheldon as 'shame', the contraction 'Shamy' just don't fit), I'm not going to treat him/her bad, but they're not going to have huge contributions to the story development, this chapter is basically so you can picture the main characters with no strings attached. **

**Thanks for your reviews, by the way, please keep sending your suggestions on what you would like me to write for Penny's adventure as Sheldon's apprentice, not that I lack ideas, but I like to widen my horizons and different points of view always make things unpredictable. A friendly reminder that this is just fanatic fiction, written from my point of view and my humble opinion, nothing but that. Enjoy, read and don't hesitate to leave a comment!**

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><p><strong>4.- The office<strong>

It was late in the evening the next day when Penny parked her car at CalTech, the sun outside almost blinded her when she tried to look up at the building. She wasn't really sure where Sheldon's new office was. So she walked towards the building and took her phone from her jeans pocket, she strolled down her contact list and touched Sheldon's contact to make a call.

-*Doctor Sheldon Cooper talking*

-Sheldon! Hey, I don't know where to find you; can you tell me how to get to your office?

-*And good evening to you too. Of course I can tell you how to get here, but I would prefer if you could wait for me at the cafeteria instead.* - Penny rolled her eyes at his friend's 'usual' behavior.

-Sure, why?

-*It'll make it easier to go to 'my office' from there, I'll go get you.*

-Ah… right. - Penny thought that was weird, he could have just told her where to go, she could find his office, why would he need to go and get her? Anyway, she walked towards the school's cafeteria; the classes had ended a while ago, so there were just a few students and teachers around, so she thought the cafeteria was going to be empty.

Of course she was wrong, she shouldn't be that surprised, Leonard, Howard and Raj were at one of the tables with their computers and some papers, chatting animatedly, she had no trouble at all with the guys, but she was afraid of ruining everything by telling them something about her new discovered condition as a witch, and she had no actual ideas as what to say if they asked her what she was doing there, she was about to turn around and see if she could catch Sheldon outside.

-Penny? Hey Penny! - She should know better than underestimate Howard Wollowitz, she slowly looked up at them as in surprise. –What are you doing here? It's really weird to see you here. – She put on her best smile and approached them.

-Hello guys! You seem very busy. - She said looking at all the papers with complicated equations, diagrams and notes.

-We're working on a new robot. - Said Raj smiling widely at her, and showing her some models on the screen of his computer.

-Yeah, it's that time of the year again and we really want to give it a try, you know, since last time we didn't make it to the competition. - Said Leonard a bit more serious.

-Oh, yes, your robot… thingy, that tried to kill me. –Said Penny feeling a bit nervous at the prospect of another robot, at least this time the 'killing machine' was not built yet- But that was years ago, I thought you were not going to make one again.

-Not. At the apartment, we learned our lesson,- said Howard opening his arms, as if to assure her they were going to work only at CalTech- and besides, this time Sheldon is not helping us, so the chances of our robot getting at least to the tournament this time are higher. - She smiled unconvinced.

-But you haven't told us- said Raj looking at a piece of paper and to his computer comparing notes – What bring you here today?

-Uh… Well, Sheldon called me, he said you were … uhm… - she stammered trying to think of a good reason.

-… going to be busy working on your robot, - Penny jumped at the sudden interruption, and turned to see Sheldon in his usual attire and carrying his messenger bag – I need to run some errands, and since I don't know how long it will take you to finish, I asked her to give me a ride.

-Very thoughtful of you. Thank you Penny, don't let him drive you crazy- said Leonard nodding at his friends.

She and Sheldon turned around and out of the cafeteria; she followed him for a minute before asking. – Don't you think Leonard is acting weird lately? He's less animated than usual.

-Yes, I've noticed too. But he always changes his mood after a breakup, I think this time he opted for the 'silent retreat'. Of course this time was not like the others as you two agreed that nothing good was happening with your relationship and needed a break, although I still don't know why if you're only being apart from each other for a while counts as a break up.

-It's complicated. - said Penny feeling a bit hurt herself, she was happy with Leonard, really, but somehow their relationship was getting boring, and predictable, so one night after a row about who was going to start the fighting that time, and actually predicting their next move made them realize that they needed time to find out why they were still with each other, was it really love or was it just that they were used to be together?- It's not really a break up until we call time up again and talk about what we really want.

-None sense. You should have asked me to write a relationship agreement, it solves things like this, Amy and I never had this kind of problems, and when we decided that our relationship was not really moving forward we just signed the termination of the agreement and everyone was happy. – Penny bit her tongue, she knew how hard it had been for Amy to pretend that she was fine with the way things ended between them, but she wasn't going to tell him about it. Sheldon stopped then and she looked around, for a moment not really sure of where they were. - Sheldon. Where are we?

They were still at CalTech, they hadn't walked outside, but the narrow corridor they were currently in was full of boxes and faulty chairs, she supposed it was the basement or something like that. Sheldon didn't respond, instead taking out a set of keys and opening the door to a tiny room with a foldable table, a chair and a blackboard with a 43 written on it.

-Come in Penny. - He said stepping inside the little room, she entered and closed the door behind her. She was about to repeat her previous question when Sheldon handed her his messenger bag, she took it and watched while Sheldon took out an antibacterial wipe and used it to erase the number on the blackboard.

A tingling sensation surrounded her, when what looked like one of those portals to different dimensions in cartoons appeared in front of them.

-I wanted to make it look like the one on Star Gate, but this one proved to be useful enough. I used it once to scare Howard and Raj- he said smiling at the 'portal'. - Come on, I want to show you the place. - He said graving her elbow and maneuvering her into it.

Penny closed her eyes and prepared herself to fall down or even to be transported like at the Flu Network, but she just gave a small step and opened one eye to see where she was. Sheldon stepped in behind her, almost making her fall by bumping into her.

-You must stop doing that Penny. I will never push you into an unsafe place before making sure you can handle it. - Penny opened her mouth to protest, but it died away as she took in the new room they were at. It was almost as big as his apartment, but it had the most interesting and weird looking objects, all of them in perfect order over special shelves around the room, he had a single desk and a work table in one corner, a huge bookshelf occupied an entire wall, and there was a window with the most amazing view she had ever seen, it actually looked as if they were on top of a mountain and the horizon showed other green mountains below, the picks covered in snow, a light fog surrounding the higher areas of trees and what seemed like the sun rising in the background, a very similar fireplace to the one they had used the day before was in the opposite wall, and Penny suspected it was the same one.

-Unbelievable!

-As you can see there's plenty of space here for you to practice what ever I teach you. There's a reading area and the books are available for you to read while you are here so you would be able to consult them if you ever have doubts. - He smiled at her, watching how exited she was, she had ran towards the window, and after a good look at it she hurried to see the titles of the many books and then to see the objects he had in the shelves, it made him feel proud, as he had never showed this place to anybody, other than the usual guest he invited to see his findings.

-I love this place! - said Penny once she had looked at everything she could in the room.

-Good. - He said simply, his smile being more expressive than him. A low 'ding' sounded somewhere behind Penny, and Sheldon walked in the direction of the bookshelf, where a small blue box stood, a little light flashing on the top. He tapped the light with his finger twice and the blue box opened, from inside it Sheldon took an envelope.

-I thought the mail was delivered by owls- she said while Sheldon opened the letter.

-It it, but as I informed you before I'm not fond of birds, so I developed my own mail delivering system, it's faster and I don't have to deal with feathers, annoying noises or stubborn owls. By the way this is the letter that officially makes you my apprentice; it also has a recommended book list, and the information about the vault to ask for the money to buy it. - Sheldon looked at her, his expression changing to a deep in thought one- So I think we need to go shopping; we actually have to run some errands now, and I'll have to make some changes to this list.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again! Thank you all for read, and welcome to those who just started following. I made some research to write this chapter, since I'm taking more of HP's universe in the story I wanted to give Penny a good wand, so I went to Harry Potter wiki, and to Pottermore, and visited some pages to inform my self about woods and cores, I also needed to define Sheldon's so I hope you agree with my choice. I'm already planning classes and possible 'complications' to make it fun, keep sending ideas.**

**You can find me at Pottermore as DraconisSauce26766 if you like another friend in that page, I'm a Slytherin. Also I had a new idea for another TBBT fic in a similar category, but I'm still busy with 'Clues' (a fic to Sherlock from the BBC) so I'll give you a teaser later, but I don't think I'll get it published until either 'Clues' or this story is finished. Wait for a short preview as Halloween treat next chapter.**

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><p><strong>5. - The wand.<strong>

Penny looked around, she hadn't really noticed the lack of doors until now, and even the 'portal' they had used to enter the office had faded away behind them. Feeling lost for a moment she looked back at Sheldon for help, he had already taken his bag and was waiting for her to move, the man just sighed and walked towards the wall they had used to enter, moving his hand as if to touch it, but just when his hand was supposed to hit the wall, it went through. Penny blinked; Sheldon moved his hand in and out the wall for emphasis.

-How…? – She could almost saw Sheldon exasperated glance starting to settle on his face at her confused response. – No way! – she said walking towards the wall and trying to place her hands on the wall, as if afraid of finding an invisible wall like a mime. Her hands went through the wall just like Sheldon's, she smiled brightly at him and then jumped through the wall, her instincts telling her that she was going to hit hard on the stone wall, when after two seconds of having jumped and not feeling other that a slight change in temperature, she opened her eyes, only to find Sheldon's looking at her from a distance closer than what she had expected.

-You knew the wizard community existed, how do you ever thought they were able to hide without ordinary people noticing? Surely you might have saw a thing or two during your youth, and the knowledge of the existence of this world should have taught you to notice this sort of things…

-I guess… Old habits die hard? - She said feeling a bit uncomfortable with him so close.

-… On the other hand you've always had trouble to focus your attention for larger periods of time. So it should come as no surprise to me. – She frowned at the rather weird physicist; he had a gift for breaking her mood. – It also explains why I was able to keep my cover for so long, have you been more observant you would have noticed earlier.

He then walked towards the blackboard and used his finger to draw the same number on it, it took a few seconds for her to notice that he wasn't using chalk, it was as if his finger was leaving the imprint over the board, for a second she felt shivers, and the 'portal' disappeared next to her.

-I could ask how, but you've been looking at me with that face you make a lot lately, so I'm going to ask, what is the 43 for?

-It stands for the number of 'portals' like this I've done. This is the last one I made.

-So, there are other 42 'portals' out there?

-Some, but not 42 anymore. Technically I didn't made the first one by myself, a teacher taught me how to make one so I could go from Durmstrang to college without arising suspicious at the place I was "staying". I found the process handy and also very easy, so I made one when ever I needed to go from one place to another. But not all of them are still functioning; I just like to keep the count in order.

-Durmstrang? Is that the magic school you were at?

-Yes, I studied there for six years, and during the same time I managed to get my first and second PhD. – Sheldon opened the door and waited for her to go out before locking the door again, then they started walking back to Penny's car.

-That makes it harder than what you told me first.

-It was. Of course with a mind like mine it was possible, but any other person wouldn't have managed to keep it for that long.

Not for the first time in her life Penny allowed herself to really admire the man walking next to her, he had lived what she considered to be the worst teenage years of life, studying in a foreign country, away from a very peculiar family, with students older than him and all the changes happening during those years, his amazing mind eager to learn, never forgetting; it was hard enough for her to picture him as an outcast in college, but knowing now that he was also a wizard student at that time, with all the time travel involved, made him almost older in front of her. And he was, how? … Thirty - something? At least his self esteem was justified.

They reached her car and climbed in it, she drove in silence, with Sheldon telling her where to go, a few minutes later they stopped in front of a little mall. Sheldon had made her drive there in a previous occasion, when he was trying to find a store selling special parts he wanted to get for his little train sets. He had ran to a store when they arrived, and she had to wait for him there, but this time he almost guided her through the various hallways in the place, until he stopped in front of a bookstore, next to a train store.

She looked uncertainly the door to the train store, but much to her surprise Sheldon entered the bookstore. Silently and feeling somehow out of place she followed him, he stopped at the Mystery section, which was the only section behind a curtain, inside the little room, the bookshelves were arranged in a very unusual way, most of the titles were backwards, and there were mirrors behind them, she smiled at the irony of the owner with his Mystery section. There was little gap behind one of the bookshelves, as if someone had tried to look at the titles from behind.

Sheldon pointed her to walk behind the bookshelf, and he went right behind her, a little pressed between the wall and the shelf, Sheldon looked at the titles on it.

-Look carefully; there must be a special book here. – She wasn't sure what he was looking for, but looked at the titles anyway. Not really interested on what the titles said but in searching for something that se considered 'special'. Suddenly it was Sheldon the one who said 'Aha' and picked up a book from the shelf. He held it in front of her with a wide smile; it looked like a children book, *"The Pagemaster", she just nodded at his enthusiasm, then he opened the book and looked for an illustration in the book that showed a mural painting on the ceiling of some building of the story.

-Take my hand. - Said Sheldon placing the book open in that page on the shelf, he opened the zipper of his messenger bag and pulled out his wand, with Penny's hand firmly held in his he tapped the book with the tip of his wand three times.

The painting seemed to grow in front of them until it was the only thing they could see, the sound of thunders and rain surrounded them, and the illusion of a 2D image suddenly became almost real… That was only until she felt the impulse of stand up. She looked around. A few people were walking around them; the little bookstore was no more a little bookstore. How they had ended lying on the floor in what looked like a big mall? She didn't know.

They stood up, Sheldon brushing the dust from his pants, she looked at the ceiling, the painting from the book now in full display, from there many hallways could be seen, one in every different direction, most of them where of books, but there were also many stores selling amazing things that she had never thought she would see.

-Come on Penny, we can't stay at the entrance. – Said Sheldon smiling again at her surprised face. – Welcome to "The Pagemaster Dungeon". Somebody named it after that book, and then somebody else made a spell and now any book with that title can be used to come here. And well, since then nobody has used the original entrance, I think people can't remember where it was anyway. Come on, we need to keep moving.

-Sheldon… - said Penny still gazing to every store she could lay her eyes on. – Why don't you have that book?

-I never needed to buy it, my Mew Maw has a copy, and she wouldn't mind to let me use it. Also the owner of that bookstore would never sell that book, he's a wizard too and his family works here.

-Why did they call it "Dungeon" instead of just "The Pagemaster"?

-"The Pagemaster" was a character in the book, the guardian of words; he summoned Richard, the protagonist, to his world so he could find the pleasure of enjoying a good book. The name of the library in the book is never revealed, and since this place is actually underground they thought the name Dungeon would match. It's to honor the 'amazing world' within the walls of the library. And since the place is also based on the hallways of the library I don't see why not.

Sheldon stopped outside of a place that looked like any bank office. Since there were not really much people there at the time, they entered easily and Sheldon made quick job talking to the wizard behind the cashier to retrieve the money they were going to use.

-So, where are we going first? – asked Penny once Sheldon was by her side again.

-To one of the Olivander's franchise. The first thing you are going to need is a wand.

-Oh, can I choose it? It's going to be part of my life for a very long time, so I would rather like it if it's from some elegant wood, mahogany, or maybe black walnut.

-Listen to you woman. The first thing you should know about wands, it's that you don't choose it, the wand choose you.

-Were talking about short wooden sticks. If I don't get to choose it, I could do with any branch of a tree.

-I doubt it. Although there are many usable woods to make wands out there, you still need to pair it with a good core. – Sheldon had guided them through a hallway; and many stores around them were already displaying wands, something that made Penny look at all the different kinds they were showing, some places were selling special treatment for wands, from polish and waxing, to had them adorned with different metal shapes or carvings, some others were selling special belts and cases to carry them without problem, some were very modern. – An even if you managed to make a good wand with your own resources, the compatibility wouldn't be optimal. Wands are almost sentient beings.

Sheldon then stopped in front of the door of the biggest store in the 'magic wand' area. He smiled fondly at the place before speaking. – You should have seen what this place looked like the first time I came here. – He reached for the knob and opened the door inviting her in. – From one of the shelves at the bottom of the store, my wand managed to fly out of its box and land at my feet. It was amazing.

Once inside a witch and a wizard greeted them with a smile. And both at the same time approached them. – Good evening, how can we help you?

-We want to buy a wand for my apprentice here, please. – The man and the woman looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

-We don't have that often around here. Let us begin. - Said the woman with a fake smile that Penny couldn't help but notice, and then walking towards the storage behind them that was stocked with long shelves filled with little rectangular boxes. The man next to her snapped his fingers and a metric tape started taking measures around her.

-So, where you looking for something special? – Said the man taking note of all the measures that the tape was giving him.

-I know we don't really have voice about this, but please bring some elm wands, I think those would be suitable. – The voice of the woman was heard from behind some shelves 'Got it'

-Sheldon, what is this for? – said Penny when the tape wrapped itself around her neck.

-It helps to find the correct length of the wand. Sometimes it has something to do with your height, but there are more variables.

-Wow, sir, you sure know a thing or two about wands, may I know the qualities of your wand?

-I don't usually display this information, but since I bought this one here, I'll tell you. Mine is a vine wand, with phoenix feather core, and it's an average length of twelve and a half inches.

-Quite a particular wand sir- said the witch coming back with some boxes and placing them all on a table on the other side of the room.

Penny watched the man and the woman share a nod before he also walked into their storage.

-Ok, first the elm wands. Please miss, can you stand there – she said pointing at a spot in the middle of the room, Penny smiled and walked to that place, the woman went to one of the boxes and gave her a wand.

-This is an elm wand with unicorn hair core eleven and a half inches, now wave it.

Penny did it, but nothing happened. To that wand followed a brand of elm wands with different length and cores, but none of them seemed useful. Sheldon sighed, being that brand of wood the one he would have wanted her to use. The woman then suggested a fir wand, but the fir wand was as useless. Many wands later the wizard appeared again bringing them two more wands.

-Ok, people here tend to buy dogwood wands; it's some kind of fashion or something because this is the last one we have. - He said handing Penny a box with a hazel wand, a note over the box had the specifications. – And this one is one that had been here for a long time, we have other brands of this wood, but I have the feeling that this might be good for you.

He opened the box of that wand and handed it to Penny while taking the other. Penny waved that wand but nothing happened… again. With a deep sigh she gave back the wand again and gestured the man to give her the other.

-Might as well try with that right now. It's easier to buy shoes.

The wizard gave her an apologetic smile before giving her the wand. This time the wand left a trail of sparkling golden bubbles behind it. And they kept sprouting from the wand's tip for a few seconds, popping later into purple smoke. By then both, Sheldon and the other wizard were smiling.

- So, dogwood and dragon heartstring it is, 10 inches and three quarters. That'll be seven galleons please.

Sheldon paid for the wand and a few minutes later they were once again walking through the hallways. –Now, we only need to do a quick visit to the library and then we can go back, I'm not going to teach you potions yet.

-Why not? – said Penny rolling her wand in her fingers, watching how now and then sparkles would spring from the tip.

-Because, you can barely manage food. You need to improve that before I let you near any cauldron. – After saying that Sheldon moved his hand and took Penny's wand from his hand. – This shall not be used as a toy. – Penny showed him her tongue and snatched her wand again from his hands, before following him through the hallways in search for the many books they will need.

-Sheldon, was it only my imagination or the couple at the wand's store was looking at me… like a weird specimen?

-I don't know it could be either because it is unusual to see a witch buy a first wand at your age, or because many people in the community consider apprentices to be the "analphabet" of magic world.

-What?

-Never mind them Penny. Really, all wizards in ancient times learned magic through a special master, a family member or a recognized wizard (and even that was hard because magic was still seen as evil in muggle communities), and some of them became legends, while since magical education began there's only been a bunch of great wizards. Also it's not that unusual nowadays because of all the records that got lost a few years ago, mostly in Europe, but that should talk good about you, because you were chosen to study there. You have nothing to worry about thought; I am your teacher after all.

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><p><strong>*The Pagemaster (Kirschnner Contreras /Tiritilli [as written in the bibliographic information on the book in my hands]), I've had this book for years, I think it also have a movie of its own but I'm not sure, it was one of the very first books I read when I was a child. For me this book was a gate into new and exiting places, thus why I chose it to be the special door to the particular magic plaza that Sheldon and Penny visited, it has beautiful illustrations, and if you haven't I really recommend you to read it. It's a short and lovely story.**

**Also I live in México, I've never been to California, so I don't really know any places there and I don't really need to get confused with locations and things that I certainly can't understand by looking at a satellite image provided by google maps, so, any locations mentioned in this story are just the ones displayed in the series, the books and maybe my crazy mind, no actual references to places in real life are being used.**

**See you next chap!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! And here we are, proudly standing over the sixth chapter (Yey!). Ok, this one was planned a few days after I started the story, somehow remembering Harry and Ron being jealous of Hermione's attempt at transfiguration with a needle, and also Quentin (from The Magicians) feeling the same towards Alice's demonstration of proper magic with a small crystal ball, so yes, it's very much alike, I only wanted to make it funnier, and well, my mischievous and weird mind helped me and I'm working with the characters of TBBT, what's more fun than that?**

**Remember to read to the bottom (longer chapter too, isn't that a treat?) for a Halloween teaser of the story that will come after I finish one the two fanfics I'm writing (either this one or Clues), enjoy, and please leave a comment or make a suggestion for future chapters, I love hearing from you.**

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><p><strong>6. - Worms and spiders.<strong>

Once Sheldon managed to make her hold all their purchases, he guided them through the many hallways in the place to an interesting zone. Full of stores selling food and candies, she marveled at the different effects of some of them, seeing how some of the costumers often ended throwing fire after tasting some candies and how some others turned different colors of skin or started producing smoke through their ears.

To her surprise, Sheldon led her to sit at a table outside of a cozy shop, going inside and then returning with an ice cone for each.

-The ice cream here is one of the best in the world, there are many flavors, some of them I would rather not taste, but I'm sure you can come back and try all of them later, I would let you indulge yourself with candies but I'm afraid you over do it, and some of those candies are quite addicting.

-Are those combined with drugs or different potions?

-No, but the effects are overloading, and people start craving the hot feeling in their bodies after trying dragon breath candies, or the pleasurable feeling of the rainbow shots that keep turning your skin color while you roll it in your mouth, or the chilling sensation of the frost lollipops, that keep lowering your body's temperature every time you swirl it in your mouth until you stay frozen to the spot, of course 5 minutes later you can move again, it's one of the best things you can try on a heat wave or a very hot day.

Penny smiled at her friend, surprised at the way he was referring to the effects of the candies, as if remembering the flavor. She looked warily at her ice cream, a light aqua color that looked like mint or something like that, fearing the effects of the ice cream itself.

-Should I be worried about this one? – She said looking that Sheldon had an ice cream of the same flavor.

-No, I just thought you would like the feeling afterwards. Look. – He said standing up and licking his ice cream with a smile.

And then Penny thought she might be dreaming, or else Sheldon was growing taller. He pointed at his feet and then she saw it, Sheldon was floating about four or three inches over the floor, he leaned down, taking hold of the table and maneuvered himself to his chair. Not wasting another second she stood up and started licking her ice cream, feeling a chilling shiver run down her body to her feet, and then she was floating, a few inches more than Sheldon, but she supposed that it was logical since she was lighter in weight than him. When they made their way out (suspiciously through a train store selling most of the stuff she had seen Sheldon buy and that was a magic carbon copy to the one beside the library from which they entered) they walked back to the small plaza, and Penny felt grateful that at least with the added weight of the books she wasn't in danger of flying away with the wind as she feared with the sensation of floating still on her limbs.

In the ride back Sheldon told her to go, at the same hour the next day at his 'office', and once in her apartment she dived into her new books in a way she should have done when she was at high school.

Ooooo

The next day she left work in a rush, her bag full of her new books, and waited for Sheldon in front of the door to the office almost bouncing, changing her weight from one foot to the other impatient.

Sheldon appeared minutes later, smiling at her eagerness and walking them to the portal. Once inside Penny dropped her bag next to a table and pulled out her wand, marveling at the bubbles that still burst from the tip every now and then. Sheldon sighed and the approached her, waving his hand and making a whiteboard appear next to him with practiced ease, and she knew he probably did that every time, given his tendency to spend hours in front of his beloved boards.

-Today I have prepared a basic class, I'm going to explain you the basic concepts you must understand before making a spell and then you will practice. Is that ok?

She nodded and then took a note book out of her bag, remembering his previous remarks about taking notes for any upcoming test he will probably make.

-Very good. Now, a wand has always served to witches and wizards to focus their magic and aided with the special properties of the wood and core develop the results of their command into a spell. Wizards have to work hard to control their magic powers with out a wand, it requires a lot of training and complex studies to master it, but it's not impossible. However the tradition dictates that one should start with a wand. The very fist thing you need to learn is one of the most basic concepts in physics as well. Motion; movement, any way you call it … - from there Sheldon threw himself in what he knew better than many people in the world and proceed to make notes and some pictures explaining the concept.

Penny was starting to feel a headache, asking him to stop every now and then, or to repeat his words to get them right in her note book, trying to convince herself that she could get used to it, that she wanted more than anything to learn this and that Sheldon was the best person for the task.

After a while he stopped and Penny swirled her wrist trying to stop the sting of pain produced by her quick writing, she looked up at him, surprised to find a proud expression on his face.

-I encourage you to keep working like that; I rather like it when you are assertive and hard working. Like with your penny blossoms, a bit of enthusiasm makes wonders to your attitude. – She smiled, blushing a little at the genuine compliment. Sheldon then looked for something in his pocket, and gave her a pebble; the rounded edged stone was almost spherical and soft and fitted in her fist. – From now on this pebble will be used for practice, don't loose it.

He pulled another pebble from his pocket, an older one from the look of it and placed it over the table in front of her. – Now that you understand a little bit more what movement is about you must image the movement it self, the pebble is not going to move on its free will, the basic spell is _Locomotor,_ while advancing over this you can usually add the latin voice or the actual name of what you are moving,with your wand and the movement in your mind you must flick the wand and move the pebble. - He used his own wand to show her how, making his pebble move in a straight line from one edge to another on the table. - Now try it.

-_Locomotor- _said Penny pointing her wand at the pebble and giving it a flick like Sheldon had done. She squealed in happiness when her pebble moved forward on the table.

-Nice. Now keep practicing in a straight line. – Sheldon then moved to the other side of the room while Penny kept making her pebble move over the table. A moment later Sheldon stopped her and placed something over the table; he unfolded a paper over it and showed her a tiny highway with curves and crossroads that a kid would happily use to play with his toy cars. – This is a bit more complicated; moving in a straight line is easy, this time, using the same spell and without moving from where you are standing make your pebble complete the circuit.

Again he used his own pebble and wand to show her how to do it, after the long talking he had done earlier Penny thought this was really going to be difficult, but her confidence was high, so she made the spell once again, willing the pebble to move around the small circuit on the table. At first she started moving her hand along with the pebble to keep it in track, feeling for a moment the way she felt when playing Halo with them and she kept moving the controller as if that would somehow make her character move faster on the screen. After some tries she could manage to complete the circuit without climbing the table to move the pebble.

-You're surprisingly good at this. Keep practicing and one day we can see whose pebble is faster. – She laughed at the challenge, taking her pebble tossing it to the air and catching it before it fell on the table.

-Now- he said going back to his lecturing pose- the next thing we are going to do is make it float. I was going to taught you that first, but you performed it well in London, so I suppose it's not going to be a problem for you now.

Knowing very well what spell he was talking about she repeated it, feeling this time how her wand canalized her power making the pebble levitate a few inches over the table, and to her relief only the pebble. She thought about the feeling she had had when doing the spell before and now, she had used the same strength, but somehow, the wand she had used then hadn't canalized the magic at all, her wand worked with her, like a partner. She started to understand how wands choose and complimented its owner.

The next thing Sheldon taught her had her working really hard to accomplish the task. Sheldon had showed her about mater and its properties, turning his pebble into a tiny stone man and then returning it to its original shape. So far she had managed to turn her pebble into a worm, only getting to the "S" shape by trying to force it to grow limbs, and she was playing with it frustrated, turning it back to its original rounded form, that being easier than getting it to form arms and legs.

After a while, Sheldon had started working on his own things, and Penny's worm still refused to look any more humanoid, so frustrated, she turned the worm into a pebble again and placed her stuff again inside her bag. She walked towards Sheldon ready to tell him that she was going back home, when she noticed what he was working on.

Over his desk was floating a weird dark cloud, dotted with purple spots and tiny little white points shinning faintly, he was observing closely, every now and then his fingers would move while he whispered something, a weird thing then would cause the cloud to look as if made of some very fine fabric, it's treads of many colors, and the spots and tiny dots would tie within the fabric without losing shape, color or position. It looked weird because although the tin treads of the fabric weren't transparent, they allowed the cloud to be watched thoroughly.

-Wow. What's that Moon Pie? - Sheldon jumped startled, and then looked at her.

-Something I've been trying to explain for a long time, but that still manages to escape my words and numbers to be understandable. Also you're not allowed to call me Moon Pie. – He said waving his hand over the cloud and making it disappear. - I see you are ready to leave. Let me get my things and then we can go.

-Great, I feared you were going to give me homework or something.

-I am. - Confirmed Sheldon checking the contents of his bag. – You may read the first chapter of both _A History of Magic _and _Magic Theory_ for tomorrow. And you can keep practicing the motion spell and trying to make your worm grow some legs.

-You also thought it looked like a worm?

-With that size and shape it couldn't be a snake. Transfiguration is not as easy as basic spelling; you'll manage it in the end.

-You should really try to talk to other people like that. It makes it easier to be around you.

-Mmh, I'm not sure I want to make life easier for other people. Nobody does that for me.

Ooooo

Later that day, Penny was practicing her spells over her coffee table, still frustrated that she couldn't make the transfiguration work. She could hear the guys talking exited about something at the other end of the hall, even through her closed door and she wondered why they were being so loud.

Sighing she turned again her attention towards the pebble, making it round again and then trying something different. With the pebble still round she pronounced the spell and pulled a part of the pebble, then another, then another, then other two, until her pebble looked like a weird spider with five legs. She smiled happy, at least now she could go from a worm to a fat spider. Content with that result she took a random book from her table, opened it at random page and looking at the contents without really paying attention.

She was rolling her wand with her fingers, she loved the tiny bubbles and maybe her wand liked them as well because it hadn't stopped dropping them since they bought it; a weird word called her attention from the pages, and she read the phrase unconsciously, and then changing the pages again before closing the book.

She reached for the five legged pebble to get rid of its legs when she noticed it had disappeared. She looked for it, thinking it had fell and rolled awkwardly under her coach…, or the coffee table itself, or under her clothes, or inside her shoes, or into the Chinese food container, or… damn, she really needed to clean up a little. What would Sheldon say? What was she going to tell him? '_Hello Sheldon, sorry to bother you, but I think I've lost my worm_'? A loud scream made her look up, fearing the worst she walked towards the door and pressed her ear to it, and then footsteps, followed by the feared signature knock of no one but ...

-Penny… Penny… Penny…

-What is it? - She said trying to look like someone who hadn't just lost a pebble.

-A weird specimen had just entered our apartment. I was wondering, since you have helped with the task of getting rid of unwelcome spiders before, if you could please go and kill it.

She felt her blood drain from her face, and she had to make up something funny to tell him.

-Sure thing Moon Pie, as long as it's not one of Howard's perverted robots. – Sheldon looked at her with a scowl, and she was sure he was going to say something about the nickname, but she moved faster and walked into 4A.

The guys were standing over the couch, (a videogame consol and a pair of controllers explained the noise) looking at the floor afraid of the 'weird specimen'. She pointed towards the kitchen and the four of them hurried to stand there, Raj, Leonard and Howard from the living room and Sheldon from the door. She went on her knees, taking off her right shoe, looking under the couch and quickly finding her five legged pebble, (_why couldn't it be a spider?) _somehow it's tiny legs were moving, and the difference in size of the limbs make it walk in an awkward line and now it was stumping against one of the legs of the couch, ashamed she faked slapping something with her shoe, took the pebble in her hand and stood up quickly.

-Coast clear guys. - She said dropping her shoe and stepping over it again, feeling the tiny but hard legs of her pebble still moving in her hand.

-Thanks Penny. – Said Raj, while Leonard and Howard nodded towards her.

-You're welcome- she said turning around. Sheldon walked towards her and she panicked, walking out of the apartment quickly.

-Penny. - Too late, he had caught her! He knew! – Was it a very big spider? You seem distressed. – Ok, he didn't know, but she wasn't looking less guilty.

-Nop. – She said unable to hide her expression. He frowned and closed the door behind him, a faint glow running over the door.

-Was it a spider? Penny? - Sheldon demanded.

-I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, I swear the only thing I did was give it legs. – She said showing him the deformed pebble upside down on her hand, still moving its legs in the air.

He sighed, approached her and observed the moving pebble on her hand. He snapped his fingers and the pebble stopped moving.

-I recommend you to be more careful. This time it was confused as a spider, but next time they could notice. I also told you that your wand was not a toy, the only logical explanation to this happening is that you were playing with it, this should be reflected in your final score, but I'm going to let you go only with a strike, is that clear? – Penny nodded feeling guilty. – Seeing that you actually managed to modify the pebble and give it five limbs, however, gives you an extra point. Good job. And Penny, stop playing mindlessly with your wand.

She smiled and nodded again, turned around and walked back to her apartment; Sheldon then turned around and deactivated the sound filter of the door, once inside the apartment he started laughing, his friends watching him with lifted eyebrows.

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><p><strong>Thanks for your reviews and for following this mad story, and yes nertooold54, you should probably keep those two in mind for future reference ;) I have a notebook with all the special things I can use to improve my plots and they are currently there, but I will not spoil you with details. And dear Anonymous, thanks you for leaving a message, really, I would like to give you a full length answer, but it would took lots of space (I actually wrote a happy and exited one, many things came to my mind, but almost three hundred words later I noticed how long it had gone), so short answer: no, I just used the information available about woods and cores, and based my choice on their personalities, but you should really get an account to chat through PM, or you can find me at tumblr (andydona-chan) or AO3 (Donaji25), a short message would do.<strong>

**Now, to the part that brought you down here:**

It had been a rainy season, but the weather in California was always warm, so the cloudy sky was just a promise of another stormy night. Inside the apartment 4A, home of a pair of very particular scientists, the usual gang was sharing dinner.

The TV was on, but no one was really paying attention as Amy and Bernadette were explaining to the group and experiment they had developed and wanted to get their friends to agree and take part of it.

The group shared concerned glares, not because it was a completely unsupervised experiment, and the only people that knew how it worked and were involved in it were Amy and Bernadette, and they were also willing to be part of the same experiment, also no body wanted to share their minds freely any way, and there was certain theoretical physicist with a very singular mind there.

Amy was starting her scanner, currently connected to her boyfriend and her bestie, when it happened, a lightning hit the building and the lights went off. For a moment every one in the room looked outside the window, the lights came back a few seconds later.

The moment it did the scanner made a weird noise and Penny and Sheldon blanked out with the sudden electric charge striking them…

…

-Penny, listen to me. You were asleep the whole weekend, that's why I called your job and said you were indisposed.

-What are you talking about? It's Saturday Ames.

…

-There's nothing wrong with the BBC schedule because they don't air Doctor Who on Mondays. - Said Leonard tentatively, hopping that his genius roommate would catch the idea.

Sheldon's look was of deep thought, and then he smiled widely at him. – Oh, I see! Aren't you missing the 'Bazinga' there? This must be a joke, today it's Saturday Leonard. I thought you were acquainted with the days of the week.

…

Penny lifted her right hand and Sheldon did that as well. Sheldon then showed his tongue in a mock attempt, only to be mirrored by Penny…

**Oh yes, I cut it out a little, but I know you understand the reason behind it, Happy Halloween!**


	7. Chapter 7

***Waves white flag* Sorry for the delay, and for the short notice to those that had to change from the crossover section, my computer is failing, and that gave me trouble when writing, also the connection tends to be slow and updating takes a while, so I needed to choose where to continue and this was the best choice. Thank you very much for understanding, and still follow. I've been having a real hard time, I tend to be easily depressed and that gives me writer block, but I managed to keep writing this time.**

**Now, this chapter is for Sheldon, I am not used to write a character like him, so he might be very OOC, but work with me I'll improve. I tend to work my stories slowly, even giving some signals to where this is heading doesn't mean its going to be quick and to the point, also when a plot starts building in my "plot notebook" the essence of the story can change, don't worry, the fun chapters are still coming, but this officially turns the story into a goal focused multi-chapter fic. Hope you enjoy reading, and please review, your suggestions are permanently welcome and in time you'll see them in use.**

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><p><strong>7.- Shenanigans at the Plaza. <strong>

Sheldon had been pleasantly surprised by Penny's advance ever since he had started teaching her, he had gone through most of the basic explanations of motion during the week and her advance in transfiguration was also improving, the incident with the five legged pebble had been rather amusing, It had taken him a few minutes to regain calmness once he went back to his apartment that night, mostly because his friends kept asking what had happened or what the blonde had said to have him laughing like that, when usually normal jokes never made him laugh. He had somehow made a believable story about the 'spider coming from Penny's apartment, and she being in hopes of never have to see the arachnid again, only to have to kill it somewhere else.

During Saturday morning he had prepared some of his things to make a little test to his apprentice, getting a bigger highway path wasn't difficult, he could have left it there, but somehow he felt the need to show her a bit more of what he could do, he had never been able to do so, even when he was at Durmstrang his classmates never really were around him because of his responsibilities with college. So he added some of his favorite enchanted toys, some lego constructions, a few collectible cars (his flying replica of the Delorean from 'Back to the future' was difficult to be left out), and some trail rails were placed upon the highway path and he printed a list of things for Penny to complete during the test.

It had taken her a full hour to complete the task, but it had been fun to watch, he kind of enjoyed seeing her concentrated expression while trying to remember the correct spell to make the pebble roll over the mat like a tiny car, take the curves in the path, float over obstacles, go through lego walls and fences, float over water puddles, and then transfigurate the little rock into a still unperfected humanoid and 'board' the train, or enter a tiny house, he had even laugh aloud when she improvised a little chat between the tiny man she had made, with the "lego citizens". It had been hard to keep a serious face, taking notes while checking her pronunciation or watching her struggle to remember the correct spell to make the pebble go through the material of the legos.

With a proud and happy smile he announced that she had passed and that the "motion" classes where done, he of course advised her to keep practicing, and a bit reluctantly he let her choose their next subject, either "effects of the light" or "states of the matter", she had chosen the first one, and then he had discussed with her the need to agree on a schedule during laundry, he also remembered that he needed urgently to teach her some household spells, but he had to admit that the place wasn't looking that bad now that she had some control over her powers.

Spending time with Penny had always been easy and enjoyable, and he had somehow come to regret the fact that he had to hide his wizard identity from his friends, knowing that she was once again some one he could truly trust made his feel relaxed around her. Lately Leonard, Howard and Raj had been avoiding him, not even Amy talked that much with him via skype, and he wasn't going to admit how badly their break up had affected their friendship, that leaving him craving company, something that Penny provided with the add of how much she was still surprised of all the things the magic world had to show her.

One day when she had arrived while he was using the 'unhygienic' bathrooms of the school he had found her looking around some of his books, grinning happily when suddenly she landed on a page with something that wasn't complicated for her anymore, he hadn't told her but most of the magic in the world came as a manipulation and understanding of basic physics, he had found it surprisingly easy when he had started, and not even at Brakebills had he found difficulties, being a recognized physicist already in the muggle world, solving equations, performing complicated spells with all the specifications he had previously worked on had been for him a way to feel fulfilled, embracing all the things he was capable to do to understand and modify the world around him like no one else. The knowledge that Penny was actually feeling something akin to what he felt that time, made him feel strange, he had tried to understand what it was, but the only word he was going to use to label it was "pride", there were a few more, but he refused to use those.

One day, when he was teaching her a bit more about particles in the matter, and the way the atoms could be separated individually (not in the atomic bomb kind of separation, that could have been troublesome), for her to be able to make the pebble capable of passing through different surfaces (wood, concrete, plastic…), she had told him that he was acting like a different person, that of course had him denying it and trying to make her change her mind, only to have her telling him that the changes were subtle, and that she wished he could tell the others about this if it make him so happy. He hadn't even had to explain why he couldn't tell them, falling into real admiration for the girl when she proved how serious she was actually taking her magic classes.

On Sunday watching Leonard preparing to go out made him feel a bit lonely, he knew they were working on a robot for a competition, but they hadn't even crossed a word apart from the usual communication during the activities of their usual schedule; he had been busy as well, not only the classes he was giving Penny had him occupied, he was also busy working some calculations to explain his current investigation in muggle terms. Knowing that the possibility of spending time with his friends that evening was little, he started thinking of possible things he could enjoy doing… Maybe he could invite Penny…

Feeling like it was better than spending the whole day alone he stood up and walked towards his neighbor's door, he still needed to know what kind of agreement they could fix for the upcoming week… maybe she would like going to the "Dungeon" again, maybe this time he could introduce her to new treats, she had to work later but that wasn't a problem. Leonard looked intrigued but he said nothing to stop him. He knocked on her door, the memory of Amy telling him about the OCD behavior behind his routine sometimes made him feel ashamed, but Penny didn't seem to mind it.

-Good morning Penny – said Sheldon politely, remembering previous encounters when she hadn't been in the mood to talk with him, and by the look in her face she probably wasn't.– I know you still have part of the day free and I was wondering if you would like to visit the "Dungeon" again. – He said making the quotation marks with his fingers, knowing that she almost never refused to go shopping. That brightened her mood a bit, making her smile brightly, at least now they could discuss how to solve the schedule problem and spend good time out.

-Sure, let me just get ready and then we can go…

-Go where? - asked Leonard stepping out of the apartment. Of course he should have known, his roommate never wasted an opportunity to speak with Penny, but he could go a whole week without talking to him…

-We were just going to visit a plaza. Last time we found a very good place to buy ice cream. – Said Sheldon turning around to look at his roommate. – You could come with us, but they only work with milky flavors. – His intention was to make him go to whatever thing he had planned to do with the others, but of course Leonard was not going to let it go.

-Well, Raj and Howard are waiting for me down stairs, we were actually going to look for a new place to eat, and we could all go together, I'm sure that's not the only thing they sell at that plaza, I can eat something different. – Penny managed to bring her smile back, which had turned into a weak one.

-Great! I'll call the girls and we can all have a day out together. It's been a while since the last time. – She turned around and winked at Sheldon before closing the door. He wondered for a moment why she hadn't declined, she knew they could to the "Dungeon" with the others, and what with the wink?

He turned around to look at Leonard, who had a confused look on his face.

-I know I shouldn't worry, but were you asking Penny on a date or something? There was an awkward atmosphere between you two. – What…? When…? He couldn't really state a question as to how Leonard had came up with "an awkward atmosphere", he hadn't feel anything different during the few seconds he had talked with Penny… And he wasn't going to deal right now with the strange feeling that the word "date" had brought to his stomach.

-I don't know what you're talking about Leonard. There was no awkward atmosphere there, just the same old interaction between friends, sometimes I think that you want to see more where there's little. – Leave it to Leonard to still be jealous of any male that approached Penny.

-Then why did you asked her to take you instead of me? I live with you, neither of us has to work today and it wouldn't be the first time you ask me to drive you somewhere. – Stating the obvious, as if he had been the one sharing plans for the weekend with him…

-You had plans with Raj and Howard, and I couldn't help but notice that I was not included in them… _again_. So in hopes to not bother you I came to Penny. – Leonard seemed guilty for a moment, and Sheldon looked away, at least now he remembered that not every thing had to do with romantic feelings in this world.

-Listen Sheldon, it was not our intention to make you feel lonely, we've been busy, and I'm sure you understand completely. Also since you said you were working on a big discovery, we thought that maybe it was better for us to let you work, you are always saying that we are a nuisance when ever we interrupt your work, you could have said something.

-You are right, I should have told you, Penny has been spending some time with me lately, and I kind of missed our social group interactions.

-So we're good?

-I suppose you are referring to the state of our friendship, so yes, we're good. – Penny shouted something about downstairs and five minutes, and Sheldon and Leonard headed to the stairs and started walking down.

-So, what have you and Penny been doing during this time?

-Not much, she entered to a new class and doesn't seem to want to fail it, so I've been explaining some of the basics about it to her.

-Great and how is she doing? Has she progressed?

-Compared to Penny's previous attempts at studying, she's actually doing very well.

* * *

><p>Once in the plaza the group divided and boys and girls went to explore the different stores in the plaza, most of them where local business, not big labels or expensive products, they actually talked with each other like always. And Sheldon wondered if Penny somehow knew how he was feeling during the week, maybe that was why she hadn't stopped Leonard when he invited himself and the others to their day out.<p>

Later they all went to eat together, luckily by having gone to that plaza before he knew the restaurants, and he didn't complain that much on the food selection, he wondered if Penny had some kind of physic power (a real one, not the sort she used to visit), maybe not a seer, she could be an empath and that's why she never had problems with understanding human emotions… He needed to make further research on this, and there was still the discussion about the schedule, maybe if he excused him self for a bit, he could find a way to communicate with her later…

Unknowing to him or even for Penny, part of the staff working at the Chinese restaurant where they had ordered were watching them. Usually Sheldon didn't need to check what he was eating when it came from muggle stores, he still liked quality and from the magic world he had learned some of the effects of different ingredients that magic restaurants tended to use…

* * *

><p>Once back in the apartment the group was divided again, Amy and Bernadette followed Penny to chat before she had to leave for work, and hopefully to arrange her schedule. It could have been that easy, if normal things had happened after they entered the place.<p>

The first thing he noticed was Leonard's swollen stomach, he was not very fit but that was exaggerating, and he was sure his friend hadn't ate that much. The second thing he saw almost made him laugh, it seemed like Howard's nose was growing and his head and body were starting to shrink gradually… Something was definitely happening, and he didn't need Raj's squeaky remark about their friend's sudden changes to notice how the man's limbs had turned rubber like and he couldn't hold himself up.

Penny's scream from the other side of the hall made the panic start to settle inside him. He opened the door to Penny's apartment in time to notice the orange color of his hand, inside he noticed Bernadette had grown hair all over her body and Amy's shortened limbs, Penny was still standing, her skin had also turned orange.

-Sheldon what happened? – she asked looking scared at her friends, he turned around and saw Leonard's body completely swollen over the couch, an unable to move Howard moving his tiny arms and legs and the puddle of Raj near the coffee table.

-I think we've been tricked, somebody added a 'special' ingredient to our food, maybe is not the best idea to have a Magic Shop Center underneath a muggle Plaza after all.- He looked around, thinking of what to do about it. – Bring Amy and Bernadette to my apartment, you might have to call your boss and say we have an emergency.

-Dmn…, I didn't want to miss work, I've just started. Ok, so, should I make them float there?

-Not really hard to do it, is it? – Said Sheldon hurrying back to his apartment, while Penny took out her wand to move Amy and Bernadette.

He moved quickly, going to his bedroom and taking out his "foldable potion kit" and returning to the kitchen.

-Sheldon, why aren't they talking? – asked Penny helping Howard into a lying position and placing a book next to Amy so she wouldn't roll around, her hands and feet seemed to be awkwardly attached to her body.

-Must be whatever they put in our food, it's obviously not for muggles, must have affected them like a drug and they're not aware of what's happening, I think that's why we only had our skin color changed. – He said busying him self by putting a cauldron over the fire of the stove and then searching the pages of a book, his fingers moving at high speed while he mumbled different things and ingredients flew into the cauldron.

-What are you preparing? – said Penny lightly pocking Raj over the carpet, and trying to avoid Leonard's swollen foot (secretly wondering why his clothes had grown with him?).

-Basic remedy, but I need to know what we ate in order to make the antidote. – A few pages later he made a triumphant sound and added a white liquid to the preparation.

-You really need to show me how to do that. – Said Penny watching blue sparks burst from the cauldron.

They gave each one of their friends a spoonful of the potion that Sheldon had prepared, they had to look for Bernadette's mouth, and find a way to make Raj's head look normal enough. Once all of them were getting back to their normal shape and size Sheldon turned the TV on and checked the news reports, and also the internet.

-This is weird Penny; one would expect that this kind of accident would be noticed by muggles, the government is not always quick to handle this, but it seems like our group was the only affected… - He was starting to panic, he even started scratching his arm in an unconscious attempt to get rid of the color.

-You think someone was watching us? Do you know who could have done it?

-I don't know, but that person probably recognized us from the last time… I'll send a report about this; maybe they'll send someone to check that place.

-How do you know it was the food?

-Penny, I don't really know what just happened, it could have been anything and it could have been worse than just this, somebody planned it, image what would have happened if the effects started to show earlier…They timed it - He was amazed that Penny could remain so calm after all of this, what if he hadn't been there? What if he hadn't found the specific ingredient for the potion?

-Well, we shouldn't go back to that plaza for a while then.

Sheldon could have thought of something clever to answer that, this wasn't a joke nor it was to be taken lightly, but for the first time he allowed Penny's sense of humor to get to him and that made him relax. Whatever it was, he might have freaked out had she not been there. He was starting to understand why some wizards in the past had relied so much in their apprentices. At least they had controlled the situation quickly; he knew the procedure that was to be followed from that point. He allowed Penny the light hug she gave him before he erased the memory of their friends, but he didn't told her about the implications of that attack in their student-teacher paradigm.

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><p><strong>As for an specific review: He-Who-Shall-Live, I know what you mean about the format and I've read many fanfics with the quotation marks for the dialog, I'm used to them but somehow it's use is foreign to me (I don't even know why it feels so weird), I think the standard for books in México are the hyphens (can't really tell) because almost all my books use them (except for those in English), I promise to give it a try soon, but really when I'm writing it's hard not to fall into habit.<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Welcome back, this chapter was so fun to write, even the title made me laugh, but I don't know if the joke applies both in Spanish and English as well, if it does you'll see what I mean at the end. Unfortunately my computer keeps making my life difficult, so, sorry again for the delay, I'll try to keep updating every week, but I can't promise a specific day. Thanks again for reading, enjoy and feel free to review, really I'm working my way to place you're suggestions in the specific 'magic class' where they'll work (send me more). **

**Also, remember I'm no scientist, my knowledge of many of the things I write down there is just what I know about the subject and nothing more, I can't say that everything is right, and I'm sure many of you may know more about it tan me, just saying.**

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><p><strong>8. - Light specter.<strong>

Sheldon became a bit more careful after what had happened during their visit to the Plaza, he had somehow managed to go back and purchase some things that he spend an afternoon placing in her apartment, some mirrors, a few weird looking artifacts and protective spells. He also gave her a pocket mirror that she could keep in her purse and use outdoors, it had been a surprise one day when she was applying eyeliner on her eyes and suddenly the image in the mirror shifted and turned into Sheldon's face. She had cursed out loud and almost threw the mirror at the wall when that happened, but Sheldon soon started to explain, and told her about the magical properties of the mirror and how they could use it to communicate with each other, it had finally allowed them to work a schedule.

Leonard was spending some more time at CalTech to help building the robot they were still working on, and that gave them enough time to practice at the apartment, they still went to Sheldon's 'office' but that was when Penny had enough free time. The thing about light was a bit more difficult than movement, light also included colors and shadows and that meant that Sheldon had a lot of things to explain about the physics principles she was going to be manipulating.

It was certain day when she was already waiting to start using practical spells inside 4A that she almost had a heart attack, she was going through the pages of her notebook, looking at the underlined words that were the spells she was going to be using, when she heard Sheldon's voice.

-Penny, you're in my spot. – She jumped to her feet and turned around ready to apologize, but Sheldon was not in the room.

-Sheldon? – She asked wondering if the man was in the hallway or in his room, but his voice had sounded too clear to be that far.

-Yes? – She jumped once again; his voice had answered from behind her, making her shiver.

-This is not funny. Where are you? – She had started trembling and her heart was beating fast.

-Right here. – Said Sheldon's voice again, and this time she felt a hand closing around her wrist. She dropped her notebook and screamed. Automatically her hands started hitting the air, what ever was holding her wrist let her go, only she was not hitting the air, she could feel her hands landing on something, and when the coffee table moved a bit backwards she moved towards the door, a loud thump was heard and suddenly Sheldon's voice was heard again.

-Ouch! Don't panic woman! You almost managed to hurt me! – In front of her eyes Sheldon's body started to materialize, but in a weird way, as if he was slowly being colored from light colors to solid matter.

-You were invisible! – She said suddenly understanding.

-Your powers of observation are amazing. – Was that Sheldon being sarcastic? He stood up and brushed his trousers to get rid of the minimal dust that could be on them. – Yes, I was invisible; can you tell me how I did it?

-Ahm… - she was seriously still trying to get over the fact that her friend was invisible a moment ago, but then what she had been reading on her notebook came back to her mind. – Oh, yes, well…, you were not reflecting light, your… - she moved her hands trying to find the right word – well… your 'composing-little-things' allowed the light to go through you instead of bounce from you.

-A lame explanation, but I guess you understand the general idea. - He said this time sitting on his spot on the couch. Penny reached for her notebook and searched through the pages.

-Here, I have it written here, I just haven't memorized it. – Sheldon lifted an eyebrow and looked at her with an expression she had never seen before.

-Very well, we can go to the practical part of the class then.

Penny smiled and went to sit back down next him; the first thing they did was work on lighting the tip of her wand, basic and practical knowledge, that way she wouldn't have problems to find her way through her apartment if she had problems to pay her bill again.

On and off. Lumos and Nox. Then Sheldon made her gather as much light as possible on the wand and then made her threw it at the room (he had turned the other lights off), the result giving the entire apartment daylight for a few minutes. Apparently those were some of the very basic spells one could learn. But then there was also a thing about colors. The explanation of how the light worked was once again reviewed before Sheldon asked her to do some more complicated spells.

Using her wand she had to made her pebble shine, once she managed to do it, with the lights off she could made it fly around the room like a firefly, and she giggled at the thought of how much that could scare little kids on Halloween. Then things got complicated when Sheldon told her to try to change the color of the pebble, from a solid gray to white and then to black. Penny was concentrating on the changes she was supposed to do to the pebble, waved her wand and… a flash like one of a camera shot from her wand, leaving her blind for a few minutes.

To her surprise Sheldon was laughing, and should she be able to see him clearly maybe she would hit him again, so she blinked away the dots still clouding her view and promised to herself to learn a good spell to turn his spot's cushion into a rock, see if he would be that comfortable on it. She tried again, carefully this time, and she managed to make the color of the pebble change, not white enough, but Sheldon approved. Going to black with the same careful motion awarded her a 'thumbs up' from an amazed Sheldon.

After that he went looking for some objects, he used a glass full of water, a triangle-shaped crystal and a pan (she couldn't think of a use for that one but Sheldon was the teacher, so…). He showed her the way light moved through the crystal, making a rainbow like reflection on the table with a beam of light, he also told her how that worked in the liquid water and explained why the sky was blue. Getting things to look transparent was just something one had to work out first with physics. Of course the next thing she had to do was turn the pebble transparent (not invisible, Sheldon didn't want her to loose it), the she had to modify only some parts inside the pebble so that when she pointed her wand at it, it would look as if it had glitter in it (she only managed to made it look as a tiny disco-ball, but to her delight her teacher just told her to work it out as homework).

Sheldon finished that class with a visual demonstration, without his wand he worked a spell with his fingers and made them leave a trail of rainbow colored sparks whenever he moved them.

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><p>The next day when Penny arrived to CalTech Sheldon was not in his office, and having no key to the room where the portal to the 'other office' was she decided to wait for him there. When Sheldon finally arrived he seemed busy, checking some papers and mumbling things, he told her that he was going to need to work with something before they could start their class, and Penny felt a bit disappointed at that. Sheldon rolled his eyes and sighed before approaching her.<p>

-Look, this is just for a while, as I'm sure you would like to try it yourself after yesterday, just let me work in peace until I finish this, ok?

Penny, nodded, not sure what he was referring to, but she wasn't going to complain if he made her fingers shine like his had done. Sheldon closed the door, looked for a moment through the window (knowing very well that no one could see them at this height) and then taking his wand out of his bag, waving it and hitting her on the head with it.

-What…? - She was going to ask if the spell was the right one, but then she couldn't see her own hands… Oh, so she was invisible now.

-Now, don't go too far from here and try not to scare people, I think an hour or so will be enough for me to finish this. – He said waving her out. – Remember you are invisible, not a ghost, you cannot walk through people… or walls. And if you speak people will hear you.

She giggled and hugged him. – I'll be back in a bit then Moon Pie. – She said and then turned around and walked out of the office. She knew exactly who she could visit without causing much trouble.

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><p>Raj was looking at Howard while his friend fixed some pieces of metal in the half built robot over his table, the most technical parts of this were really boring because Howard was the only one skilled enough to put them in place, still he needed to be handed some tools and that was the part that made it boring for him, because he had to be standing next to him while the "Master in Mechanics" was tinkering with the screwdriver.<p>

Suddenly the door to the lab opened. They both looked at it, and Howard just lowered his gaze to his work again.

-Maybe the lock is getting loose, I'll fix it later. – Raj nodded and kept looking at his friend working, the notes and drawings they had made were in front of them, but he couldn't take them because Howard was using them as guide.

-I had a weird dream the other day. - Said Raj trying to keep his mind busy, Howard looked at him, but when he said nothing he took it as an invitation to continue. – It was a funny dream, there was this candy over the table, and that caused us to change, Leonard was huge as a whale! – He said laughing a little.

-As in an allergic reaction? Peanuts have that same effect on me.

-No, it wasn't like that, because we all changed in a different way. Me, I was all boneless, like made of rubber or something.

-Like in the Fantastic Four?

-No, not like that. I really couldn't control my body, but it was a dream after all, but it was cool.

-Yeah… Now that you mention it I had a similar dream, only in that one Bernadette was like a tiny Yeti, all fluffy and hairy…

-…and your nose was really big, not even your body could hold you up. – Finished Raj, still talking about his dream, but Howard looked at him worried for a moment. Raj saw movement from the corner of his eye, as if someone had walked next to them. Howard was back placing a new metal plaque.

A few papers flew out of Howard's table right behind him. – I think I saw something move back there… - He paled when he felt a hand land over his arm.

-What is it Raj? Seriously, if you want you can go back to you office, I can work this on my own. – Raj didn't have to hear him twice; he stepped back and then hurried out of the lab leaving Howard alone.

Howard sighed; he shook his head and returned to work, thinking of the weird ideas that his friend had used to leave him working alone. Some cylinders started rolling over another table, and when they finally hit the floor he turned around.

-Maybe this is what Raj saw, the string holding them must have broke and he just saw it snap. – He said placing the cylinders on the table and looking for the pack where the cylinders were attached in group by an elastic string. He started to place them again in the pack, and when he took the string he noticed that it wasn't broken…

-Here, you forgot this one. – Said a voice next to him, he turned around just to see another cylinder floating in the air, and then the world turned black.

Penny giggled, she hadn't expected Howard to faint, but it had been funny up until then. A moment later footsteps approached the lab, and she walked towards the door in time to see Leonard walk in.

-Howard? Raj? - He said stepping inside. He looked again outside the door and then walked towards the half built robot, a turn of his head made him notice Howard on the floor. - Howard! What the…? – Leonard approached his friend and tried to make him react. The door to the lab slammed shut, startling him, feeling a bit nervous he tried to wake his friend up again.

* * *

><p>When she finally went back to Sheldon's office, sometime later (she had also visited Winkle and Kripke), she found the other three already there talking with Sheldon.<p>

-…I'm telling you, there must be a spirit or a poltergeist. I heard some students were playing with the 'ouija'; they must have let something out.

-… that voice… it was so… spooky, it gave me the chills. I don't know if I should go back to the lab.

-Maybe it was the wind. – said Leonard. – There are any reasonable explanations to this kind of things.

-You should have felt that hand. It was awfully cold!

-Gentlemen. I thought you were here to tell me something important, not to babble about inexistent spirits, all those things had proved to be just nonsense. Now, if you don't mind, I will like to finish my job, and I don't need all this jibber jabber distracting me. You should listen to Leonard, there IS a reasonable explanation, or maybe it was just a suggestive effect, maybe you should have lighter meals for dinner in order to not have weird dreams.

-Ok then. We'll leave, but you are going to believe us when something happens to you. – Said Howard walking out of the office, followed by Raj and Leonard, who closed the door behind him.

A few seconds passed and then Penny's laughter was heard. – I told you not to scare people. – Said Sheldon seemingly holding his own laughter, with his hands over his stomach.

-Hahaha… I couldn't help it. … They make it so easy! … - finally Sheldon started to laugh with her, some minutes later wiping tears from her eyes Penny looked at Sheldon. – Have you finished yet?

-Yes, I have… - he said chuckling. He also wiped his eyes. – Come here, I'm going to take off the disillusionment charm, and then we can leave. You still have to learn some 'fire' and 'color' spells to complete this topic.

She stood in front of him, but since he couldn't see her she reached out and took his hand in hers, a subtle blush covered Sheldon's cheeks, but she didn't thought much of that, he cleared his throat and made the counter spell, making her visible again.

-Much better. –He said caressing her cheek and smiling before turning around to get his things.

* * *

><p><strong>The light manipulation spell that Sheldon did with his fingers is called Ugarte's Prismatic Spray (or that's my translation of the name [Espray Prismático de Ugarte] ), it is mentioned in "The Magicians" book. I just wanted to mention it since this story is both moving in the Harry Potter's and The Magician's universes. (Also to recommend you once again, if you hadn't, to read Lev Grossman's book, it's quite good).<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, sorry again for the delay, had to do some house painting during the week, little time to write, but anyway. Here it is the ninth chapter, many of you requested that Penny had a closer encounter with psychics, well the day has come.**

**With the plot of this story finally developing in my head is actually hard to focus on the classes, but don't worry I'll make it work, I mean this story was supposed to be a three shot (at least in my head), and this chapter is three times that first assumption proving that things can actually get better, so anything could happen. Hopefully a good neighbor said he could lend me another monitor or even another computer if I ask, so I don't have to deal with the faulty one (assuming that computer is not as faulty or old as this one).**

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><p><strong>9.- Hidden skills.<strong>

Once back at "the classroom" as Penny was now referring to Sheldon's hidden office, they immediately started with the class. Penny was still talking about how it had felt to be invisible, but then Sheldon took out a pan from his bag, and she couldn't help but wonder why he was carrying something like that.

-We didn't have chance to use this last time, but there is something to light that you need to learn and from that I will be able to move to the next topic.

-And what is it? - She said eyeing the pan and trying to see if it had any magical property.

-Well, the pan is actually only for safety purposes, I've noticed that if you focus on an object the probabilities of you accidentally hitting other object are less. Now, look at this. – Sheldon waved his wand and a fire flame appeared over the pan.

-We're going to work with fire. - Said Penny, it wasn't a question, and Sheldon nodded.

-Fire is a reaction, usually one need to have combustible or fuel, heat and oxygen to lit one. The fire also has the property of producing light, and depending on the material burning it could have different colors… - Sheldon then explained how it was possible for him to lit fire without a visible combustible, mentioning some of the things floating in the air around them, he taught her how to control the quantity and force of the fire, and showed her how to ignite a more classic fire, how to make one to lit candles, make it float, and even how to make one under the water (that was something completely amazing).

But watch Sheldon made all those things was one thing, making it work was something completely different. And she totally understood why he made a protective spell over his things before allowing her to start. Just like the first time she tried a specific light spell, her first three attempts at igniting a little fire on the pan exploded, literally, in her face, surrounding her with smoke. She kept trying, jumping every time her wand started to produce sparks, crouching down if the pan suddenly jumped from its place on the table.

She finally managed the correct flick, trying to steady her hand, with her eyes closed and her head turned to the side and it was Sheldon's clapping what made her look at the tiny flame on the pan. She screamed and jumped with happiness, making her wand produce more sparks that made her run towards Sheldon.

Once she got over her nerves she repeated the spell, and proceeded with the others. The fire under the water was really difficult to do, and Sheldon would have let her try it at home, but probably feared the building was going to turn into ashes if he did, so he told her that she could practice it only in that place.

By the end of the day he made her show him all the light spells they had seen, and Penny felt proud of herself when she finally managed to create "glitter" inside the pebble. She was enjoying very much her classes.

-Sheldon, when are we going to work with potions?

-I was actually going to talk with you about it. You cooking skills are very poor and some potions require to be heated for a while, there are some spells you could learn to stay alert, and many of them would actually help you keep your apartment in a cleaner state.

-But…

-There's no but, I was actually going to schedule a day to teach you those. When would you like to do it? – Penny thought of the state of her apartment, she knew Sheldon's schedule for things, and if he needed a day then it was going to be a long one.

-I made plans with Amy and Bernadette to go to a fair, some itinerant fair that goes from park to park like the circus, we're going on Sunday, so maybe it could be on Saturday, that way we can even do laundry.

-Very well. Saturday it is.

* * *

><p>When the day finally arrived Sheldon went to 4B and knocked on Penny's door.<p>

_Knock, knock, knock …_ Penny

_Knock, knock, knock …_ Penny

_Knock, knock, knock …_ Penny

It was already 11 am so there was no problem of getting punched, to his surprise Penny seemed to have woken up early, because he saw the shadow of her feet under the door. Well, at least Leonard had gone again to CalTech to help Howard and Raj make the last check ups for their robot.

Penny opened the door with a smile, she was wearing a pointy hat and a large purple tunic, and underneath it she was wearing a short burgundy dress and a pair of black boots.

-And? – She said opening the tunic a bit and turning around. - What do you think? Do I look like a witch?

-If you are planning an early Halloween party then yes, you do. Witches and wizards this days dress differently, muggles started noticing our presence so we ended up starting to wear clothes like them, in my case I didn't have to make lots of changes. Dressed like that even if you had intended to go to a magic community, people would have thought you were going to a costume party. Your usual clothes will do.

-Uhm… - said Penny pouting and closing the door. – I was hopping to dress like this more than once, see what the girls would think, but now it just seems like a waste of money.

-If it makes you happy we both can dress in similar robes for Halloween. – Said Sheldon trying to cheer her up.

-Thanks sweetie that would be great.

-We could go to "The Dungeon" and celebrate with more wizards, the treats there are the best.

-That's even better, now I can wait for Halloween to arrive.

-Penny is traditional to offer someone who has just arrived to you place a beverage.

-Right, would you like something to drink? – She said walking to the kitchen.

-No thank you, I'm not thirsty.

-Then why… forget it, I'll make sure to remember that rule next time I have any guests.

Sheldon smiled pleased, and then looked around the apartment taking in the usual messy aspect of the place.

-I see you still have the tendency to live in chaos, how about we start putting all this things to their right place? – Penny resisted the urge to tell him it wasn't that bad and be angry, the whole purpose of today was to learn to clean with minimal effort (making magic was not difficult).

-What do you think about the kitchen? – She said pointing at the pile of dirty dishes and glasses.

-Good choice. – Said Sheldon walking towards the kitchen and pulling the sleeves of his t-shirt up to his elbows. He looked in his pocket and took out a little plastic bag, from inside it he took a pair of rubber gloves and put them on, he carefully took a pair of plates and cups from the sink and placed them in the table, gesturing to Penny to come close.

-As you know I am very detailed when it comes to clean something, I tend to categorize and find the best way to get rid of the waste on the dishes, take away makes it easier at times, because I don't have to worry about cleaning after, but you can never know, and if we are going to work with potions some ingredients will prove to be difficult to get rid of. Any way, for starters and knowing very well that you are not going to use my method I'll show you the basic spells, we can work on the special ones later. – He then took his wand waved it and pronounced a spell over a plate and a cup, a quick layer of foam appeared on the edges and started moving inwards, when the foam closed the circuit it disappeared, leaving the plate and the cup clean. Sheldon explained where the remnant waste had gone and why there was no need to use water.

Penny nodded after his demonstration, and shook her hands before using her wand over the other pair. She shouted a triumphant word afterwards, and Sheldon just rolled his eyes. He then taught her how to make the sponge wash in a specific motion over her cooking set, taking kitchen oil and sauce from inside them. The he explained one to dust and clean surfaces.

-Can we do the broom thing? – Asked Penny exited. – You know like in that Mickey Mouse film, where he made the broom brush by itself.

-Penny, if you really saw Fantasia, then you know that it's not a good idea, specially because you will probably do what Mickey did and let it go all over the building, no, I'm teaching you some of the most basic spells to keep the house clean, it doesn't mean you are going to completely stop doing it, and brushing the floor is not very difficult. On the other hand what should worry you would be to take care of the clothes you throw everywhere. There's a way to sort clean clothes from dirty clothes, but since there's no possible way to know that with you, maybe you can make them float into the laundry basket.

-That's a good idea! How about you teach me to charm the laundry basket so that it moves when I'm about to throw something in it? – Sheldon looked at her with narrowed eyes. – What?

-No. Now, let's go to your bedroom, the spell to make the bed it's tricky, and I need to show you how to fold your clean clothes, after that you can float them to their place. How good do you think you'll be hanging your blouses in your closet?

-With the wand? I don't know my aim is not really that good.

-You never said that when playing Halo, who knows, you could even improve.

-You saw what happened with the fire the other day; I'm not feeling confident about it since then.

Sheldon helped Penny with lots of household spells, even teaching her some very useful spells to clean the bathroom. To Penny's bad luck he didn't taught her to remove stains, or repair objects (he said that was for another day), but she was able to clean a good part of her apartment only with her wand's aid before the sacred hour of Laundry night came.

Sheldon had started talking about the different and many benefits of cleaning constantly, and recommending her to give it a rest every once in a while to do it herself, saying that if one didn't know how to make it's own cleaning the spells would gradually stop working, personal knowledge and practical abilities where indispensable in good working magic.

Penny was actually talking with him, making some jokes about how she thought some spells would react if she ever forgot how to clean some things, they were walking down the stairs, with their laundry baskets in arms, when they almost crash against Leonard, Raj and Howard, who where running excitedly up the stairs.

-Oh, hello guy! Why are you so happy?

-I know happiness tend to make people want to rush when there's good news, but stairs have a high rate no accidents when running, so you should probably slow down a bit for your own safety.

-Yeah… - said Howard still smiling, but going over Sheldon's comment. – Listen, we've finished our robot, and we're finally ready to submit our entrance to the contest, also, we're giving a demonstration tomorrow and wanted to invite you.

-Our robot is going to smash the other competitors; it's like Hulk, unstoppable! – Said Raj grinning.

-Would you be able to come? – Said Leonard looking at Penny.

-I don't know, maybe, I'm going with Amy and Bernadette to a fair, but maybe if it's not too late or after we arrive back we could go.

-I'll go. – Said Sheldon, with a smile. – I might have not participated in the building or design of the robot, but I wouldn't loose a good demonstration.

-Ok, then. I'll send you a text with the hour of the demonstration tomorrow Penny. – Said Howard. – And maybe you can find some old stuff to destroy with it Sheldon. – With that the three men moved to the side and allowed Penny and Sheldon to continue their way downstairs.

-I have the feeling that something wrong is going to happen tomorrow. – Said Penny in a low voice. Sheldon looked at her with worry, any other day he would have tried to calm her down by listing the safety rules that his friends would take to ensure a safe demonstration but since the day he had perceived a glimpse of divination abilities in her (in that moment only like and empath) he took that as an alert.

-I would like to join you tomorrow at the fair, that way we can all arrive together for the demonstration.

-Sure. – Said Penny turning to see him when they finally arrived to the laundry room.

* * *

><p>The next day Sheldon almost retracted from the idea of going to the fair, the girls tried to make him eat hot dogs from a cart in the street, nothing there could be hygienic enough to be edible. Then there were those monstrous mechanic games, god only knew the horde of germs living on them. So he watched from the distance, seeing the girls scream over the machines and eat an unhealthy quantity of sugar.<p>

Then they played on those tricked games, to win a plushy doll, a bear and other useless toys that girls liked, they didn't do anything, no movement, no sounds, not even the friction car that Bernadette gifted him was good enough. Being polite anyway he accepted it, and helped them carry the toys. He wasn't going to try his 'luck' at anything, so it was better to just enjoy the company and avoid making any of them angry. Penny tended to threat him with violence, up until then she had never punched him but he wasn't going to risk it, Bernadette was tiny, but he had saw her angry and knew that her tongue was poisonous, and Amy made cruel statements when she was angry or upset, and since their break up he wouldn't want her to feel upset at all.

It was getting late when Howard sent Penny the message of the time and place of the demonstration, and he was already tired of walking around the fair.

-Let's go see the psychic and then we can go. - Said Bernadette, with her squeaky voice.

Amy and Penny turned around to see him with worry.

-As long as you don't make me sit in front of that fraud I have nothing against it.

The three women smiled and hurried towards the part where a psychic was making inaccurate lectures to different people.

When finally it was the turn for the girls to sit at the table with the crystal ball (more like an old and blurry hard plastic ball from the look of it), Sheldon stood standing in a corner of the room. Then entered the woman, wearing a colorful gipsy attire, tingling with every step she took. Sheldon huffed, thinking that the clothes were more practical for a Belly Dance performance than for a psychic.

-Hello dears, welcome to Shaskary's psychic booth, tell me what you want to know and I'll use my powers to guide you through the right path to your happiness.

Even the speech was dull. Anyway, he was just waiting for them, if she wanted or not to believe in this woman it was their problem, he could always consult Mewmaw for a more accurate divination.

Amy asked first, inquiring about possible future romantic life, "Shaskary" waved her hands over the crystal ball, making some chant noises and then 'predicted' a tall, handsome and loving man in her future that would make her very happy. He contained his urge to make a few observations, and took a deep breath to stay calm.

Bernadette asked about her professional future, the woman did the same exaggerated movements and 'predicted' a promotion in her work a bit after the birth of her first child, to which Penny and Amy cheered.

Then it was Penny's turn, she leaned forward to the table, without taking her eyes from the fake crystal ball on the table, and asked about her big break in the show business. The woman started moving her hands dramatically this time over the ball, making the table sway a little. Sheldon was about to walk out of the booth and wait for them outside when the woman declared 'soon' as her prediction, but then… Penny spoke.

- _*At all hallows eve night….*_ - her voice was merely a whisper and her eyes were still focused on the ball, Sheldon stopped dead in his track, feeling a shiver run up his spine. - _*…the secret will be discovered… dangerous night… leads a group to different paths…*_

-Penny are you alright? – asked Bernadette waving a hand in front of her. Penny snapped out of whatever trance she was in and tried to cover it up.

-Did I scare you? – She said smiling. – I've been improving my acting skills; I know Shaskary's prediction is right! I'm going to be a star! – The three women (Shaskary included) looked at each other before starting to laugh at Penny's "joke".

Now he had other things to talk about with Penny, Sheldon looked at the sunset orange sky, wondering what had happened, before shaking his head, he would have to explain this other day. He walked again towards the exit, shifting the plushy bear in his arms.

-Time to go, Amy, Penny, Bernadette. If we don't leave now the guys will start the demonstration without us.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the delay with this one, I had to change the ending a bit, but there are some characters that write themselves on their own, it was actually difficult to stop until I saw that I was going out of the plan and was just rambling about other things, you'll notice. Anyway, we're at the tenth chapter! (*throws confetti*) For a story that was supposed to last only three chapters, this is amazing, you dear readers are great, without your support this story would probably be long forgotten, now I don't know how long it will be. Thanks again for reading, commenting and following, I know I'm not the best writer here, but I'm happy to know that you still like what I do (for a Mexican with some troubles in grammar and no friends willing to read something in English… sometimes I need someone to plan this things…).**

**Now I just hope that you stay with the story until the end, even if the next one is not that good. I promise not to let you down with this. Read, enjoy and comment please. Let's see where it takes us.**

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><p><strong>10. - Unexpected visit.<strong>

The girls squealed in surprise when a burst of yellow sparkles started to come out of the old printer on the floor, where the saw started cutting into the metallic parts inside the machine, the robot, controlled by Raj, looked great, it was 25 inch tall an it was painted in purple blue and yellow, it had attached a powerful saw, a fire thrower and it had a compartment full of a sticky substance that was able to slow down any kind of wheels and it was inflammable, the guys had actually made a good fighting robot and by the way it was making little pieces out of the printer it could have a good advantage in battle.

Once they had finally left the fair behind and where on Penny's car back to the apartment, the girls had started making comments about the predictions made a few minutes ago, Bernadette expressed her sadness at knowing that there were some years to come before her promotion at job, since she wasn't willing to have a child in the near future (something that Sheldon doubted a bit, because Howard still had the tendency to make inappropriate comments about their sexual lives, his promiscuity might get them to parenthood sooner than Bernadette expected).

Amy was daydreaming about her possible romantic affair with some random man, and saying out loud what she would do once she found him (Sheldon believed that Amy's intention was to make him feel jealous, or guilty, but he really wished that she could find someone that could make her that happy). The only one not making a big fuss about her prediction was Penny, it was a surprise given her love for such unwarranted 'seers', he knew about the divination branch and the accuracy of some predictions, but it had been proved that sometimes the result could be changed and that expecting something to go as planned had more chances to change in a matter of minutes than anything.

He was still looking at her warily, there was something about the way she had 'acted' after that thief (yes, no one could make a prediction out of a single word) had told her that her big break into the lime lights was coming '_soon_', and maybe she had noticed that it had been strange, because she was also trying to avoid the whole topic.

Once they had all gathered at the roof to see the robot demonstration, the group had separated a bit, the guys showing off all the things and changes they had done to the machine, Sheldon had made some comments about safety and possible disadvantages to the model, but at the end he was actually very happy with the result, Amy, Bernadette and Penny were watching, saying that they couldn't really understand why they wasted time doing those things, but at the end the excuse to make them scream (as in Howard's words) had worked.

After the demonstration while Howard checked that the robot had no important damage in itself, Leonard, and Raj started to clean up, while Amy ran down the stairs to get a trash bag; Sheldon approached Penny and stood beside her, not wanting to lean against the wall where she was.

-Penny, please explain what happened at that 'Shaskary's' booth. – He saw her flinch a little, but then she turned to look at him with her usual smile.

-She made some predictions about our future, looking into her crystal ball and everything, I don't know why you of all people want to know what happened there, you don't believe in it anyway.

-Penny – he said looking around to see that the others where still busy -, you know now that I had a façade to stick to, that doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about those techniques, within the wizard's world there are true seers that can make real predictions, the fraudulent ones are those who work in the muggle world.

Penny looked at him, her expression changing from her cheerful smile to a scared one.

-Then… - she looked once again back to where the others where almost done with the cleaning – then I don't know what happened… Should I worry?

Sheldon shook his head, thinking about what he could do with this new discovery. Penny had the ability to develop divination skills, as much as he wanted to do something about it, he had never been fond of that practice and had never really been good at it when he tried, there was only one person in the world who could help him with this (well, not the only one, but the one he trusted more).

-We should get going. – Said Penny snapping him out of his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder, the rest of the group had already walked downstairs, leaving them alone in the roof. He nodded and followed her.

* * *

><p>Once back in the apartment Howard and Leonard placed the robot in a safe spot, the girls entered behind them and Raj hurried downstairs to dispose of the now useless printer. Amy closed the door behind her.<p>

-Have you noticed that Sheldon and Penny had been spending more time together than usual?

Howard and Leonard shared a glance, and Bernadette walked towards the couch to sit down.

-I mean, I know they're friends and I've always know they are very close, but when we were all together they stayed with the group, now they are just… by themselves.

-It's true, - said Leonard crossing his arms – they had been seeing each other more than usual.

-Hey, – chuckled Howard – you are not suggesting that they might be more than friends now, are you? Because we all know that there's no way that Sheldon and Penny would… ever.

-I don't know Howie – said Bernadette touching her hair -, you know what people say about opposites, and they couldn't be more different from each other, it's actually surprising that they both get along.

-I wish I knew what the thing that they had in common is; there must be something other than just us being their friends.

The group nodded trying to think of something that could explain why the physicist and the blonde had no trouble getting along. Their thoughts were interrupted when Sheldon pushed the door open, with Penny right next to him.

-…Mewmaw used to do something with the tea… - He was explaining, but by the look on everyone faces, he stopped. – What? I was just trying to tell Penny how my Mewmaw usually prepared Christmas treats when I was a kid, she's a wonderful cook and if Penny pretends to do something good for the holidays this year she should learn something from an expert.

* * *

><p>The following morning Sheldon knocked on Penny's door at exactly 11 am. She stood up from her bed a bit annoyed by the interruption of one of her rare free Mondays. Still Sheldon was someone that wasn't going to give up just because she didn't opened at the moment, so she patiently waited until he had finished his second knocking round to open the door.<p>

-Good morning Sheldon, what is it? – She asked leaning against the wall feeling still a bit sleepy.

-Good morning Penny. I came here because I wanted you to come with me.

-Oh no… you need me to drive you again. Where to now? – She said rubbing her eyes and walking towards the kitchen to prepare coffee.

-No, don't worry Penny. You wouldn't need to drive anywhere; in fact I think it's going to be a quick journey. You should finish your morning ablutions and when you finish your coffee we can leave.

She looked at him with her eyes still half closed. – If I weren't so sleepy right now I would ask again, but I think I can wait to know where we are going until I am fully awake.

-Go, take your time. I'll make you coffee. – Sheldon's statement worried her a bit, not because she wasn't used to Sheldon making hot beverages every now and then, he probably knew where every one had their personal coffee maker and tea bags, her kitchen was actually cleaner than usual thanks to the handy spells he had taught her, so she wasn't fearing a lecture on that, no, what worried her was that he wasn't hurrying her to be ready, that he was actually willing to wait until she had finished, he usually had a plan for every minute of every day, specially when going somewhere, what kind of thing or place where they going to that required him to forget a schedule? Or maybe the schedule was so special that he wanted her in the road before she could say no!

She decided to wait, by looking at him she supposed it had to be a good place, because he was actually happy, maybe she was just being dramatic and Sheldon had just planed a day at the local train expo or something.

A few minutes later freshly showered and dressed she walked into the kitchen to find Sheldon sipping a cup of tea and a steamy cup with coffee waiting for her. She thanked him and took the warm and delicious drink in her hands. Once she finally was feeling a bit more ready for the day she remembered.

-Sheldon, is Monday, shouldn't you be working?

-Yes, I should. – He said sipping again his tea. – But I asked for the day off, somehow I never find troubles to get free time at work. – Penny nodded feeling as if she had to tell him why they did that.

-So, where are we going?

-Oh, I would like it to be a surprise, just wait and see – he said emptying his cup - ,I was going to offer you breakfast, but the best we could do is just go.

Penny finished her coffee and stood up, looking for her keys and her purse, and a jacket for later. – I'm ready, let's go. – She said opening the door.

Sheldon shook his head, he approached her and closed the door, taking her hand and standing next to her, and then she knew why they she didn't have to drive. She was sure that the weird sensation in her stomach was because she was never going to get used to travel like this and had nothing to do with Sheldon's hand on her waist, not at all.

Once the pulling sensation was over the smell of warm cookies reached her, Sheldon had let go of her almost the instant their feet had touched solid ground, and she had to stabilize herself before taking in her surroundings.

They were in a house, the walls were painted in a light blue and most of the furniture looked old, there was a carpet at her feet, and an old television at her right, the room was divided by an arch and led to a dinning room where there was also a practical kitchen from where the smell of cookies came from. Next to the round table was Sheldon, hugging a tiny old lady with white hair and a happy expression on her wrinkled but nice face. She was wearing a green dress and an apron, her long hair was held in a braid at her back, Penny glanced out to the window, feeling the change in temperature.

-Hello Mewmaw. – said Sheldon stepping back from the embrace he had with the lady.

-It's good to see you Moon Pie. – She said and suddenly Penny understood why Sheldon always said that Mewmaw was the only one who could call him Moon Pie, the woman said the name in such a loving way that she felt envy of her friend. – And hello to you two Penny.

Penny widened her eyes in surprise, walking towards Sheldon's grandmother and extending her hand, only to be pulled in for a hug as well. –Hello Mrs. Copper, Sheldon has told me lots of things about you.

-Oh, you can call me Mewmaw as well, come on, the cookies are ready, if we wait more they'll be cold later, let's have breakfast.

Penny looked at Sheldon wanting to ask him why they were at Texas but he was busy helping. Mewmaw served them hot chocolate, a plate with scrambled eggs and some beans and of course some cookies, she told Sheldon how she had been, what she knew about his brother and sister, and how many she had made with the last harvesting she did of her personal garden.

-…You know I don't swim in money or galleons, what you send helps me, and also your Pawpaw's pension, but the day by day living gets harder, and it actually make me happy to be able to share at least some of my veggies with the neighbors.

-Speaking of neighbors. – Said Sheldon looking at Penny. – You know who she is, and I'm sure you know why we are here, but…

-Oh, yes, I was hoping to meet you sooner Penny. – Said the old lady turning around to face her, leaving Sheldon mid sentence, but somehow she knew that he was not going to complain with her. Not for the first time Penny wondered if Sheldon had told her that they were going to visit, or something like that, and just how much and what kind of things he had told about her in his letters. – Just a few weeks ago Sheldon told me that you were becoming his apprentice; it's weird that after years of being friends he had just discovered you were a witch, just like with muggles he doesn't have many friends in the magic world, and it's actually fortunate that you were one without either of you knowing the truth.

-It's been great Mewmaw, I have learned so much with him in this short time, and I kind of feel like I'm getting to know the real Sheldon now.

-Secrets must be kept some times, I know my grandson is very careful, he's so brilliant that I still don't know why he hasn't been honored with more titles, he's made some incredible discoveries and advances, he should have a 1st class decree on Merlin's Order (he has a 3rd), or at least a Great Wizard title, but no, he's happy with just being in the International Wizard's Confederation, but lets not talk about that or he will feel uncomfortable, straight to the point, why are you here today Penny?

Penny opened her mouth, she really didn't know why they were at Mewmaw's house, and Sheldon had just entered her apartment two hours ago and had explained nothing about their visit there.

-I was about to tell you why Mewmaw; as you know Penny's classes had proven her to be a very talented witch, by allowing her the opportunity to explore and work with her innate magic powers has probably unleashed more than that. Lately I've been noticing some interesting skills in her and I thought that the best thing I could do was to bring her with you, because you know I can't help her with it.

-Interesting skills? – Asked Penny looking at Sheldon.

-You think she might be a Seer? What kind of things have you seen Moon Pie? – asked Mewmaw ignoring Penny's question, the old lady stood up and started looking at her from different angles, the blonde felt almost like with the measure tape in the wand store. - I will probably need some time to confirm your suspicions Sheldon, in the mean time, - she said looking at Sheldon with a gentle smile – could you go to the store and get me some ingredients I need to prepare lunch? Penny will be ready by the moment you come back. – Sheldon smiled and stood up quickly.

-Yes, of course, just tell me what you need. – He said, Mewmaw took a list out of her apron pockets and gave it to Sheldon.

-The ones without a check mark. – She said and turned again to her apron, pulling some coins from it.

-No, don't give me any money, I'll pay for it. – He said walking out of the house, saying that he would come back soon.

Penny then was left alone with Mewmaw, she felt a bit out of place but, the lady was looking at her with a smile.

-Such a gentleman he is, isn't he? Now, look at me dear. – said Mewmaw sitting next to her. – My grandson has a brilliant mind, and he's very talented in almost everything he does. It's not the first time he spots true talent, I am a Seer, been my whole life, and I can sense it in you as well. Unfortunately I can't teach you, both of you live too far away for it to be possible, but I'm going to do something for you.

-Really? But I really don't know what Sheldon is talking about, I'm clumsy and I still have trouble with some spells, I don't know what those 'interesting skills' could be at all. – Mewmaw had walked out of the room and came back holding a couple of books.

-You don't have to explain yourself dear, Sheldon can see over your clumsiness, and he's hardly ever wrong, and you can't fool me. – She handed Penny one of the books. – This, is my personal notebook about divination, when I went to school the books about this topic were rare and expensive, so I had to make my own notes, I'm sure it will help you train yourself, some of them you can do without a wand, some others require previous knowledge about potions, - Penny looked through the pages of the hand written notebook in her hands, noting that there were sections between techniques requiring the use of the wand, and potions, some pages had beautiful illustrations and she had no trouble understanding the neat calligraphy of the woman – if you ever have doubts you can tell Sheldon to contact me, he knows how to do it without coming here or send a letter. And – this time Mewmaw gave her a little velvet bag – these are my cards, Missy gave me a new one a few months ago so you can keep this, it's reliable and it will help you learn, take this with you as a gift, please.

-I… Thank you very much, I promise I'll do my best to learn. I always wondered how psychics did their work and … This is amazing, thank you very much.

-Oh, it's nothing dear. But if you want to give me something in exchange, I would love to have great grand children… - Both ladies laughed, but Penny wasn't really sure that it was a joke.

Sheldon came back a few minutes later, placing all the ingredients on the table and smiling proudly.

-If you need anything else just say it Mewmaw. I hope you can tell me something about Penny now, so I can focus her future classes on specific subjects. Let me tell you, she's a natural emphat, I struggle to know what people are feeling in certain situations, in others I can deduce it, but Penny knows, she can sense how somebody is feeling without having to ask, and she usually does something about it, either by talking or suggesting a different activity. She's always liked psychics, she managed to make some conjectures about me when we met, and last night she probably made a prediction. – Mewmaw was at the content in the bags when she heard this, and looked up at Penny's eyes.

-Well, she is certainly learning fast, and she can manage divination easily, your sister Missy can do it as well, not using all the techniques of course, but I've always believed that she took your divination skills with her, you two should have shared a bit more, it would have been great to have you two learning magic together, anyway, you're right Moon Pie, your lovely apprentice could do a powerful Seer. This prediction you mentioned, what did it said?

- "At all hallows eve night, the secret will be discovered, dangerous night, leads a group to different paths" – recited Sheldon by memory, Penny looked at him, not quite sure of having said that the previous night.

-I wouldn't pay much attention to it. – Said Mewmaw thinking. – If she's starting to be receptive that prediction could be for anyone, maybe even for one of the persons passing by when it happened. I have already given her something to practice, make sure to contact me if she has doubts, - Sheldon nodded and then Mewmaw pushed the other book towards him – this one is for you, I don't really do that much magic this days, and I know you have a good memory, but it'll be better at your place, I have a list with what I need, so don't worry, and please come visit me again soon.

Sheldon took the book and caressed the cover. – Thank you Mewmaw, I'll take good care of your Grimoire.


	11. Chapter 11

**If you have been keeping up with the story up until now, thank you, as you know now, the story is already standing on a firm base, and it should be easy to keep going from here. Meaning that this story is on the Shenny side (friendly mostly, but things will definitely change in the future), that there are 'things' and 'some bodies' that are causing trouble to the characters and that Penny is going to prove to be a great person (and witch) with Sheldon's help. I have to say that is actually scary how much material and ideas I've been having over this story, but I will never get tired of thanking you for the support and comments, that's how this story finally moved on.**

**Hopefully even if you're not that much into the 'shipping' part you can keep reading and enjoy the story because the very first thing that made me look for Sheldon and Penny was their friendship and I want to maintain it (even with deeper feelings in the background). Also as you have noticed I don't think badly of any other character and I will probably twist this story in more ways than one. I'm telling you this because I received a slightly upsetting review, but I'm sure I wouldn't be this far into the story without real supporters, so... we can just leave that behind. Now to our business, let's find out what else is coming. As always thank you for reading, enjoy and review.**

**In a quick note maybe during the holidays it will be difficult to update, I'll try but I make no promises. Until then Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.**

* * *

><p><strong>11. - The importance of the future.<strong>

Penny felt dizzy. Not only because they had just traveled back in that awful way that Sheldon used, if he ever asked she was going to make sure to tell him that she preferred traveling through the Flu Net. Anyway, it wasn't the traveling what had her in that state of confusion, no; it was the whirlwind visit she had just made to his grandmother's house. Sure she had always wanted to know the infamous Mewmaw, with all the stories about cookies and possible promising stories of a not so normal childhood of her best friend.

This however was not what she had been expecting, she would have been very happy if Sheldon had actually told her why they were going there (or at least that they were going!) But no, in such hurry she had completely forgotten that she wanted to talk with her, and that she had questions, of course that wasn't something to expect when Sheldon was the one taking control over every single thing, that was why there had been no schedule!

And then they had had breakfast, Mewmaw had given her a large speech that she could barely remember fully (she was sure she had caught the important part), and suddenly they were back at her apartment. Pop! Just like that, and it was as if she had just woken up seconds ago. When she finally regained the control of her body she turned around, Sheldon was sitting down on 'his spot' on her couch, which was almost the same spot he had in his apartment, watching the book in his hands as if it was made of gold.

She looked at it, frowning at how old it was, it wasn't even a proper book, it was handmade, sewed on the edge and with some pages just added in certain places, that book was not something she ever imagined Sheldon touching, he was more of big, thick books that often caused him back injuries. She wondered what made it so especial other than had been property of his Mewmaw.

She looked down again at the book she was holding, it was in a better state, not too old, not sewed… The little velvet bag hanging from her fingers looked new, and it had a weird shine, not proper of the fabric, the weight of the cards inside reminded her of what Mewmaw had told her: "_I am a Seer, been my whole life, and I can sense it in you as well…_". Though she had always been fond of fortune tellers, horoscopes and such things she had never expected herself to become one, she was curios of course, but she wasn't sure she could do it.

She placed the book and the cards over her table and walked towards Sheldon, she sat next to him and watched him while he turned the pages of the book without reading them, some pages had been written by different people, that or the author couldn't make his mind about how the book would look better.

-Sheldon, what was today for? – Sheldon jumped a little, having been startled by her words.

-Sorry Penny, I was… - he closed the book and looked at her. – What were you saying?

-Today. You still hadn't told me why we went to visit Mewmaw. I would have expected you to explain our schedule, telling me that we were being expected at her house, that you had noticed some 'interesting skills' in me, and that I was going to take Tarot classes.

Sheldon looked at her, at first with a serious expression, then with a lifted eyebrow and finally smiled.

-Penny, let me explain. It has come to my attention that you posses some foreknowledge about 'things' – Penny smiled, knowing how much Sheldon disliked talking about uncertainties - , in all the years we have know each other I always thought that you only had 'street smarts', but that's not all of it. You're an emphat, and that means that you can sense how people are feeling, you can sense doubt, love, fear, sadness, all those things somehow managed to make you see how much Leonard actually felt for you at some point, and you allowed that feeling to invade you, and that's only my assumption, maybe that's why you two were a couple for a while, but it was in time when Leonard was finally feeling loved that his indecision and lack of self confidence kicked in.

"I'm sure you noticed that every time he started showing sings of being unsure your own feelings were tested, I'm sure you really developed feelings towards him, but they were not as strong as his, and there was also the fact that we all had different emotions, we're a group and you've been part of it since the beginning, it must have been overwhelming to feel all those emotions at once, from the annoying lust coming out of Howard to the frustration in Amy, and I think that's why you started drinking, and that's why you lost focus on your dream of becoming an actress.

-Wow, you do observe people thoroughly! I never really noticed anything of that… or thought about it like that.

- Yesterday at the fair you made a prediction, maybe it's because you're starting to learn to control your own powers, but it was the thing that finally convinced me that you possessed that ability. – Penny was about to ask him how he knew that was what happened, but Sheldon lifted a hand to stop her. – I had already perceived your emphatic abilities, if you can sense emotions you can also sense what's coming, that's how I made the connection. You know I'm not good with emotions, and when we met I told you that I didn't believe in fortune, the truth is that having grown up with someone like Mewmaw, who is a witch and has been a Seer all her life taught me how to differentiate from a true gift and a fraud, personally I don't know anyone as good as her, she tried to teach me but I was never able to understand the trick behind divination. 'You have to feel it', she said, but then again I'm not good at it, but you are and I was sure that if someone could help you it was going to be her. Today she only confirmed my suspicions.

-But… how is this going to help me? Honestly, I like to have a fortune teller tell me about my future, so that I can take their advice if the situation allows it, but I've never saw myself as one.

-Penny, I'm not telling you to start a business out of it. You have other goals in life. What I'm trying to say is that by mastering all your abilities you'll be able to regain control in your life. Your magic outbursts caused your apartment to stay in chaos for a while, maybe you never noticed but part of your mess wasn't even made by you consciously, now after just a few classes this place is in better state. – Penny smiled looking around at her 'not-too-messy' apartment. – Now by learning this you will probably learn how to control and tell your own emotions apart from the others. Who knows maybe you'll be able to help the people around you before their emotions confuse you and that will help you focus on your acting career.

-You… Do you really believe I can do it? – Sheldon sighed.

-Penny, when you discovered my secret and told me your story that day I said I was going to help you. You're my friend, my best female friend, and if I ever make a graphic you'll be over Leonard. I don't believe you can do it, I _know_ you will. After all you were the one that made us work a whole night to make a thousand Penny Blossoms. You managed that in one night, the changes that you had achieved since you started taking classes had just taken weeks, I'm sure your life will be different before you even notice.

* * *

><p>Leonard, Raj and Howard were climbing the stairs, the three of them enthusiastically chatting about the last changes they had made to their robot, the demonstration the night before had been awesome and now the only thing they were lacking was a good name for it.<p>

Once in front of 4A Leonard opened the door and the three of them walked inside.

-Sheldon are you there? – He asked aloud first to announce their presence in the apartment and also to make sure that his friend was actually there.

Howard and Raj shared a glance, waiting for some condescending answer coming from the theoretical physicist, when a few seconds had passed without answer Leonard turned to look at them.

-That's weird.

-He might be sleeping. – Suggested Raj.

-No, he never sleeps out of schedule. I'll go check his room. – Said Leonard walking to his roommate bedroom. As always a bit turn of the knob and a push didn't work, Sheldon wasn't in the apartment, he never allowed anyone into his bedroom and it was always locked when he was out since the last time they had been robed.

With a sigh Leonard walked back to the living room, where Howard and Raj were already watching something on the TV.

-It's seems like the apartment is Sheldon free.

Both men at the couch cheered up.

-Don't sing victory too soon, he is probably with Penny. – Said Leonard sitting down on his chair.

-I know they're good friends, and that they get along with each other, god knows how, but don't you think is weird that they are spending so much time together? – Asked Howard.

-They're spending the same amount of time together as always, at least I don't think is any different from the time when they were both single like now. – Said Raj taking the remote and searching something else to watch.

-We all know that between Penny and Sheldon exists a connection that no one can understand, but Raj is right, they're not spending more time together than usual; it's just weird because they're not in a relationship after a long time being in one.

-Yeah, who would have thought that Sheldon was going to be in a romantic relationship with a girl we both found at a dating site for three years? – Said Raj dreamily, in the direction of Howard.

-Yeah, it was actually incredible. – Said Howard smiling proudly. – But that's not what I meant. Remember that day when we saw Penny at the cafeteria? – Both scientists nodded. – Well it was not the only time she was there, it's weird but I think I've seen her there at least a couple of times after that. Before you say that it could have been somebody else let me tell you that the other day I found Kripke, we were both returning to our office, and he started talking, you know how much he likes gossip, well he said he had saw "Woxane" visiting Sheldon, and that she had been going there for a few days straight, he asked me if I knew anything about it.

-What did you tell him?

-I said it wasn't his business and walked away. I mean, maybe I don't know why Penny is going there, but if I knew I wasn't going to tell him either.

-But then Penny has been actually going to visit Sheldon at work. Do you think we should investigate? – Said Raj looking pensive to the ceiling.

-What for?

-Well you know I trust Sheldon, but what if he's experimenting with something and he's using Penny as 'test subject'?

-Raj, that's highly unlikely.

-I'm just saying.

-Do you really think that Penny would allow him to do those sorts of things without telling Amy or Bernadette? My wife hasn't mentioned anything like that, and let me tell you, she tells me everything…

-I don't think she…

-No, she does. Sometimes I think she says it out loud trying to catch me off guard, but I always listen.

* * *

><p>Later that night Sheldon was standing next to the window in his room, he had received a pair of letters regarding the events at the plaza just a few days ago. He was worried. After working out the problem that day he had sent some letters to ask the government to start an investigation, making sure to note how it could have affected more than some muggles in the place and suggesting to check on the employees working in the food business in the plaza to see if there was some irresponsible young wizard around. Even if someone had forgotten its purchases it was a huge problem for the Status of Secrecy, especially if muggles were using it because some of the effects could've been lethal for some people, he shuddered just thinking on the problems it could have carried for him if any of his friends had suffered from long term effects or died.<p>

The answer he had received only until today was more suspicious though, although he had sent with the letters proves, and that the authorities had taken care of it they hadn't found any more traces of the substance in the area, or in any local, the investigation team had searched for more reports of the same case and hadn't found or heard about it, not even a case where the *Department of Accidental Magic or the Improper Use of Magic Office were call to intervene.

This meant it had been a personal attack, someone wanted to mess up with them, whoever it was. That's why it had used that ingredient in the first place, with it the attacker had made sure to know which of them were wizards, maybe fearing that Penny wasn't his only companion in the magic world, it had been risky, and the perfect timing for the effects to be noticed indicated that this person knew where they lived, maybe someone living in the same building or in the area, maybe at work… There were many possibilities, but why would they go to such measures to get to them? What do they wanted?

When Penny had became his apprentice he had worried a bit for the security he had placed around him, but then only Penny was able to go through it without trouble because she had always been a witch. He sighed and placed the letters between the pages of a book, he was still going to recheck the protective spells around them, and place some new ones as well so there was no point in keeping the idea rolling around his head.

He had new classes to plan and a 'discovery' to make (more like translate from "wizard understanding" to "english for muggles"). Maybe he could try and see if Penny could work as the old fashioned apprentices, behind his back, seeing how he summoned the magic from the earth and learning on her own… Dreaming was always nice, but after smiling at the thought he made a mental note of what he was going to do later; once the basic theory was over he was going to enter to the metaphysics field and that was a bit more complicated to explain than basic physics. That combined with Penny's possible questions about her divination training were things he wasn't really glad to have to do soon.

At least, he thought while changing into his pajamas, his apprentice was a (still surprisingly) very talented woman, she wouldn't have trouble learning, and that allowed him to focus on the protection around them. Maybe in time she would be able to warn him before hand of any threats coming their way. He looked back again to where he had placed Mewmaw's Grimoire, if anything with that book in his hands their chances to go through any kind of problem in the future were better.

If only he had known how difficult his friends were going to make it.

* * *

><p><strong>*Sorry if this one is not the right name, I only own the fifth and the seventh book in English (the other five in Spanish), so I have no idea how it is written and just translated it.<strong>


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